The story of the “Hyatt 100” represents just one dramatic example of how Hyatt’s aggressive use of s

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On July 23, Hyatt workers and allies launched a global boycott hotels in dallas of Hyatt hotels. Leaders from the AFL-CIO, NFL Players Association, the National Organization for Women, the National Gay and Lesbian hotels in dallas Task Force, Netroots Nation, Interfaith Worker Justice and other organizations joined Hyatt housekeepers at a press conference in Washington, D.C., to formally launch the boycott. The launch marks the largest escalation to date in an ongoing campaign for basic worker rights.
A deep respect for our associates the people who provide hospitality to Hyatt guests around hotels in dallas the world is central hotels in dallas to our culture and fundamental to our success. We re very proud that Hyatt hotels are great places to work. And that s not just our opinion:
UniteHere s claims are an attempt to boost membership by pressuring Hyatt to allow the union to organize more hotels through the intimidating card-check process. We believe our associates have the right to a secret ballot. Last year, we petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold supervised secret-ballot elections at our non-union hotels. The union flatly refused to participate.
To get their way, UniteHere leaders have denied members they already have our associates in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Waikiki the right to vote on contracts containing wage increases that are the same as those the union has accepted at Hilton and Starwood hotels. The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago recently found that UniteHere has bargained in bad faith and made illegal demands during contract negotiations.
While union leaders direct precious members dues toward publicity stunts, we stand ready to pay the raises our associates should have gotten long ago, which will be delivered upon completion of new contracts. And now, the call for a global boycott of Hyatt will have a direct and negative impact on our associates, who depend on business in their hotels for their livelihoods.
Our union associates are being used in the union leaders self-serving campaign to increase union membership and dues. It is time for UniteHere leaders to do the right thing for the members and families they re paid to represent by calling for a contract vote.
1. Card Check for unionization was upheld by the U.S. Supreme hotels in dallas Court in 1969. Wikipedia has a good Card Check article that explains the reasoning behind support and opposition to Card Check for creating a union workforce.
2. Hyatt Hotels hotels in dallas claims hotels in dallas UniteHere refused to let members vote on a wage increase employees of other hotel chains approved. From what I have read in the UniteHere union articles, the main issues against Hyatt Hotels are working conditions and subcontracting hotel jobs. Subcontracting is a major factor hotels in dallas for UniteHere since these workers are not employees of Hyatt Hotels.
On August 31, 2009, Hyatt fired its entire housekeeping staff at three non-union hotels in the Boston area, replacing women who had worked at Hyatt for decades with workers from a temporary agency. Many of the fired workers report that Hyatt required that they train their replacements. Their replacements now earn minimum wage and clean as many as 30 rooms a day. Few if any of the subcontracted workers receive health insurance.
The story of the "Hyatt 100" represents just one dramatic example of how Hyatt's aggressive use of subcontractors is destroying good jobs. Using subcontractors allows Hyatt to pay housekeepers poverty wages while evading legal liability for unsafe hotels in dallas working conditions or hiring undocumented workers.
On January 9, 2012 in Indianapolis, subcontracted hotel workers filed a federal wage and hour violations lawsuit against the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, the subcontractor hotels in dallas Hospitality Staffing Solutions hotels in dallas (HSS), and nine other major hotels. Ten days later, Hyatt announced that it had cut its contract with HSS, putting in jeopardy the jobs of 20 hotel workers.
Hotel housekeepers are the invisible backbone of the hotel industry. The grittier aspects of their jobs—the work of scrubbing toilets, changing sheets, and encountering guests alone behind closed doors—are the hidden foundation on which an atmosphere of luxury and comfort are built.
Today, Hyatt housekeepers from across North America are stepping out of the shadows to demand an end to the abuses they face at work. Hyatt has eliminated jobs, replaced career housekeepers hotels in dallas with minimum wage temporary workers, and imposed dangerous workloads hotels in dallas on those who remain.
In a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine examining a total of 50 hotel properties from 5 different hotel companies, Hyatt housekeepers hotels in dallas had the highest injury rate of all housekeepers studied when compared by hotel company.
Over time, cleaning hotel rooms can lead to debilitating injuries that in some instances hotels in dallas require surgical intervention, physical therapy, or lead to permanent disability, like the loss of the full use of one's arm. Lifting mattresses that can weigh over 100 pounds, pushing heavy carts across carpeted hallways, bending up and down to clean floors and make beds, and climbing to clean high surfaces all take a physical toll.
Hyatt Housekeepers have filed health and safety complaints with the U.S. government. In 2011, the federal hotels in dallas Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA )or its state counterparts issued 18 citations against the Hyatt at 11 hotels and 3 citations against one of the Hyatt's housekeeping subcontractors at one of those hotels. The citations alleged violations of various safety regulations that protect housekeepers and other employees and proposed over $100,000 in penalties.
hotels in dallas Hotel housekeepers frequently clean bathroom floors on their hands and knees, a degrading practice that is tolerated by too many hotel employers. This practice, combined with the failure to provide fitted sheets like those used in homes, has led to an unacceptable rate of back and other work-related injuries. In 2011, Hyatt took the lead in opposing a bill to end "on our knees" bathroom cleaning and backbreaking bed-making practices.
In late September, the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California, fired two housekeepers, sisters Martha and Lorena Reyes. These middle aged mothers were featured on a digitally-created collage of bikini-clad "Hyatt Housekeepers" hotels in dallas on a bulletin board at work. Humiliated by their depiction, Marta removed her image and that of her sister. hotels in dallas Soon after, both sisters were fired. hotels in dallas The sisters have filed a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In subsequent sexual hotels in dallas harassment trainings, management denied that it had objectified women's bodies or engaged in any damaging act.
In Indianapolis, San Antonio, Scottsdale, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Long Beach, workers have called hotels in dallas on Hyatt to accept a fair process to enable them to choose whether or not to join a union without employer intimidation. Hyatt has refused. Workers in non-union facilities complain of disrespect from their management, hotels in dallas low wages, unaffordable health insurance and high room quotas for room cleaners.
On July 21, 2011, heat lamps in the awning above the Park Hyatt Chicago front entrance were turned on striking workers the morning a strike began. Heat lamps were left on for about an hour and turned off shortly after reports about them surfaced in the press. That day, an excessive heat warning was issued by the National Weather Service, with heat index readings climbing above 100 degrees in downtown hotels in dallas Chicago.
In my research of the Hyatt Boycott I found that nearly all the hotel trade journals and mainstream hotels in dallas newspapers simply posted the Hyatt Hotels press release with no analytical or investigative insight.
Ric Garrido , writer and content owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed .
And is it really worth bulleting out ONE incident in which ONE day ONE manager at ONE hotel (on his last day on the job, if I remember correctly?) turned heat lamps on striking workers? Probably shouldn t have done it. But it s pretty clearly a single isolated incident, and not as though the striking workers have always behaved well either, certainly they ve woken many a sleeping guest!
(1) Hard to get too worked up, not like there s desperation and abuse being specifically described here, the word abuse is thrown about but without anything to substantiate it. This isn t children being locked in a factory that s burned down, the kind of stuff that we all need to get behind and do something about. It s ultimately a dispute over contract hotels in dallas terms and mostly about whether the hotels can hire non-union workers.
Whether I am pro union or not, as a reader hotels in dallas of many Boarding Area blogs, I appreciate the diversity of voices found here. This is an issue for any traveler that stays in any hotel, not just Hyatt s. Almost all workers that are low wage or even minimum wage are more likely to be at risk of exploitation. I am happy to be reminded of what the work of hotel workers can be like, even if it may be something that makes me uncomfortable.
Hotel housekeepers perform back-breaking hotels in dallas work but their efforts are often invisible to even the most frequent hotels in dallas of travelers. When travelers say they don t see abuse or self-indulgently complain about the noise from picketers I would ask them to try the job of a housekeeper for just one day. I am certain their perception of the situation will change.
Keep on reporting this issue. Some may wish to keep their heads in the sand or appease their conscience by leaving a tip, but all trav