Author Archives for Ann Kammerer
Aissata Bocoum (Wyndham New Yorker)
On Thursday, June 4th HTC members voted, by an enormous majority, to approve a 7 year extension to the Industry Wide Agreement which will cover over 23,000 workers, securing an unprecedented 11 years of guaranteed wage increases and healthcare.
3,436 members voted by secret ballot in the Gertrude Lane Auditorium of the Union’s offices in Manhattan. In the final count, 98.7% voted to approve the contract extension.
Voting began at 7am, with members from the 119 Hotel Association Bargaining Group hotels coming individually and in groups to cast their votes. Tonia Johnson-Williams, Room Attendant at the Gregory, said, “I’ve come to vote because it’s important to show support for the Union,” and added, “I’m excited about the wage increases!”
With the extension ratified, IWA increases under the current contract, the last of which is on July 1, 2018, continue unchanged. Then, starting on July 1, 2019 (the day after the current IWA expires), and each July 1st thereafter, through and including 2025, non-tipped workers will receive a raise of $1.00 per hour and tipped workers will receive a raise of $0.50 per hour. This means that by the end of the contract, a Room Attendant will earn $39.87 per hour — over $72,500 per year. A Bellperson will earn $24.05 per hour — over $50,000 per year. Additionally, the contract extension will see employer contributions to the pension fund increased by 9.5% by the end of the extension to ensure that our pension fund remains healthy.
Read the rest of the article.
In late May, workers at Baltimore’s BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport visited Frankfurt, Germany. They have asked Fraport AG — parent company of BWI’s concessions developer AirMall USA — to address the poor quality of jobs and working conditions the airport’s food and retail concessions program. Frustrated with lack of action since Fraport acquired AirMall nearly a year ago, workers decided to travel to Frankfurt in order to encourage solutions to the dispute.
In addition to meeting with elected officials, media and other Fraport stakeholders, workers and UNITE HERE representatives were joined by supporters from ver.di, the union representing Fraport’s employees in Germany, for a public event the day of Fraport’s General Assembly.
German Press Coverage:
US-Protest gegen Fraport, taz
Fraport fliegt aufs Ausland, FrankfurterRundschau
Video: Gewinne und kritik für Fraport, RTL-Hessen
German website: flughafenBWI.org
As the City of Los Angeles moves to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, it is also cracking down on one company that it says has failed to comply with an existing city living wage. In a letter to Flying Food Group CEO David Cotton, the City advises that 271 employees at the company’s Imperial Highway kitchen have not been paid in accordance to the LA Living Wage Ordinance, dating from May 1, 2010 to the present. As reported in the LA Times,
The letter ordered the back wages paid within ten days of the company receiving the letter and threatened to end all contracts with the city and ban the company from holding a city lease or license for up to three years if the company did not comply. (“Airline food company ordered to pay living wages to employees,” LA Times, May 26, 2015)
According to a survey of Flying Food Group workers conducted by UNITE HERE over the past year, the median wage of respondents is just $10.04 per hour – nearly $6.00 per hour below the $15.84 per hour required under the LWO for workers without company-provided benefits.
Flying Food Group workers at LAX prepare, pack and deliver thousands of meals daily for passengers of major airlines including Air France-KLM, China Airlines, Etihad, Virgin Australia, Japan Air, and others. In recent months, they have actively called on the company to pay them the living wage, rallying at the airport and giving testimony in front of Airport Board of Commissioners.
Earlier this year, nine workers filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that, in refusing to pay the living wage, it had “engaged in widespread and flagrant violations” of the municipal law.
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon and which cuts without wounding and enables the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our Union is among the most militant in America.
Our members are people of all colors and immigrants from around the world. They’re brave people who left everything behind—whether escaping segregation in the Deep South; political persecution in Cuba and Central America; war in Africa; economic degradation in Haiti, the Philippines and Mexico; or old factory towns destroyed in our countries.
We are fighters. We are a union of people who fight for every inch of progress and against all forms of repression. We led the historic Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. We were the first to endorse an African American candidate for President. We were the Union to demand African American hiring in our Union Contracts and an end to bigotry against our sisters and brothers in the LGBT community.
Police violence against unarmed African American men only reminds us of the images of Selma. And mass incarceration of men and youth of color exposes the travesty of the current criminal justice system.
But violence in response to violence is both unacceptable and counter-productive. It always leads to loss of those who are oppressed and reinforces the view of the oppressor.
We must all be reminded that militancy does not mean violence. And non-violence does not mean weakness.
Most of our Union’s leaders have taken to the streets, been arrested, but always held their ground: hands and fists raised in protest, but never in acts of violence.
We have an unfulfilled obligation to teach young and justifiably angry women and men how they can practice our kind of militant non-violence. Because we win. It works.
I am calling on our Union’s leaders throughout the United States and Canada to reach out in the communities we represent and share with all who want to learn from us and form a more just society.
Our Union stands strong in the face of injustice and exclusion and racism and sexism. Black lives matter. Immigrants’ lives matter. LGBTQ lives matter. Women’s lives matter. Workers’ lives matter. This has been our defining purpose as a Union all along: to fight for basic human rights and human dignity. And we must be more strongly committed to this fight than ever.
Fraternally,
D. Taylor
Each year on April 28, unions like ours pause to observe Workers Memorial Day. We honor the hard work and sacrifice of those who have been injured, made sick or killed on the job and we reaffirm our commitment to fight for safe and healthy workplaces.
A 2006 UNITE HERE report found that many hotel housekeepers experience debilitating pain and injuries after years of making beds and scrubbing toilets. Another academic report published by in 2010 found that the incidence of these injuries can vary by gender and ethnicity, reporting that Latina housekeepers in the study had almost double the risk of injury of white housekeepers doing the same job.1 And hazards of housekeeping work may only get worse as hotel companies implement room changes including heavier mattresses, more linens, and other room amenities.
Employees who report injuries or hazards can face harsh discipline or termination. The consequence is that workers underreport injury and illness and continue to endure life-threatening working conditions. It’s no wonder that, 50,000 workers die from occupational diseases caused by prolonged exposures to toxic chemicals and other health hazards annually.
UNITE HERE has steadily fought back back against employers that put workers in peril and cost lives. But much more work needs to be done.
“No one should have to risk their health at work. But the reality is that too many employers are placing profits over people and workers suffer,” says D. Taylor, the President of UNITE HERE. “By organizing and winning strong union contracts, housekeepers and other workers in the hospitality industry have made great strides to ensure their work is safe and sustainable, and we will continue that work until the dangers facing every worker, from the airport and hotel to farm and factories, are eliminated.”
Read more about Workers Memorial Day here and share this graphic to let the world know that you support workers.
1 “Occupational injury disparities in the US hotel industry,” Susan Buchanan, Pamela Vossenas, Niklas Krause, et.al., American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol. 53, Issue 2, pp 116-125, February 2010.
We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in Boston.
The Boston Globe says, “if you’re a member of Unite Here Local 26, the union that covers more than half of the hotel workers in Boston and Cambridge, the pay and benefits are striking: Entry-level salaries at $19 per hour; family health care for $12 per week; a housing program that gives you $10,000 toward a down payment.”
It also means equality and opportunity. UNITE HERE Local 26 has decreased the barriers that African Americans face getting access to these good jobs. We did it by negotiating with Boston’s hotel employers to include hiring accountability and a training program into the union contracts.
That’s why the Boston Globe says, “THERE IS arguably no path to middle-class life in Boston more swift and secure than a job in a big hotel.”
Read full story here about how we’re changing lives in Boston!
On November 20, 2014, housekeeping staff struck the hotel.
Workers at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in Allston announced Saturday that they have won a union.
Workers joined UNITE HERE Local 26, Boston’s hotel workers union, ending a more than 2-year public fight and boycott. During the course of their campaign housekeepers educated the public about the pain they experienced cleaning hotel rooms. Undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard launched a campus campaign to encourage Harvard to support the workers’ demands.
“It is inspiring to see that when workers and students come together, real change can be made,” said Harvard freshman Angela Leocata. “The DoubleTree workers winning a union proves the power of collective action and the promise of student-worker solidarity.”
The workers made national news in May when they appealed to Facebook COO and feminist Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg declined an invitation to “lean in” with immigrant housekeepers.
More recently, housekeepers at the hotel held the first hotel workers’ strike in Boston in more than 100 years. On November 20, 2014, housekeeping staff struck the hotel and joined hundreds of students and supporters on Harvard’s campus where more than 3000 cards of support were signed and delivered to administration.
“Working while pregnant at the hotel was a difficult time for me,” said housekeeper Delmy Lemus. “I am joyful today.”
Ongoing picket lines, rallies, and leaflet actions on campus and at the hotel were a major part of the workers’ campaign and boycott. Already unionized hotel workers from Local 26 often joined them.
“Our members believe all workers deserve the standard that we’ve fought for,” said Boston hotel workers union President Brian Lang. “We will be relentless until all hotel and hospitality workers in Boston can work safely and can provide a better life for their families.”
With union recognition, workers will now sit down to bargain their first contract.
“It will be powerful to negotiate with management as partners and equals,” said housekeeper Sandra Hernandez.
Learn more at www.local26.org.
Last week, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which would allow businesses, governments, and even first responders to discriminate against the LGBTQ community and other minority groups on religious grounds.
UNITE HERE Local 23 applauds a revised bill that was announced this morning and will be carefully monitoring policies that affect workers in Indiana. We stand with the labor movement and the business community in calling on Governor Mike Pence to repeal this statute and pass workplace protections for all working people in Indiana.
Our membership is diverse. We are predominantly women and people of color, and we hail from all corners of the planet. We have different gender identities and sexual orientations. Together, we are building a movement to enable people of all backgrounds to achieve greater equality and opportunity. A law like this is discriminative and we stand firmly against it.
Amanda Tompkins, a UNITE HERE food service member and shop steward at Chartwells IUPUI says: “As a Christian gay female, I am angry with the way that RFRA is perceiving God. My loving God is being labeled as hateful and discriminating. The thought that I could be denied services due to my sexual orientation breaks my heart and leaves me in fear.”
UNITE HERE’s Organizing Beyond Barriers program is now accepting applications for our 2015 summer internship program. Learn organizing skills, strategic thinking, and movement building by doing it hands on this summer. The application deadline is April 17th. We’re looking forward to getting your application.
Click here to learn more and apply.
March 25, 2015, is the 104th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York’s Greenwich Village. This tragedy took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers and galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers.
To learn more about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, visit Cornell University’s Kheel Center.
This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. To many, its horrors epitomize the extremes of industrialism.
The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed.
The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The Asch Building was one of the new “fireproof” buildings, but the blaze on March 25th was not their first. It was also not the only unsafe building in the city.
On the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, fire fighters struggle to save workers and control the blaze. The tallest fire truck ladders reached only to the sixth floor, 30 feet below those standing on window ledges waiting for rescue. Many men and women jumped from the windows to their deaths. Photographer: unknown, March 25, 1911.
An officer stands at the Asch Building’s 9th floor window after the Triangle Fire. Sewing machines, drive shafts, and other wreckage of the factory fire are piled in the center of the room. Photographer: Brown Brothers, 1911.
In the April 5th funeral procession for the seven unidentified fire victims, members of the United Hebrew Trades of New York and the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers Union Local 25, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the local that organized Triangle Waist Company workers, carry banners proclaiming “We Mourn Our Loss.” Photographer: unknown, April 5, 1911.
The Triangle Fire Memorial to the six unidentified victims in the Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, was created in 1912 by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The six bodies were all recently identified by Michael Hirsch, who worked tirelessly to recognize the names of the unidentified victims.
The victims names:
• Lizzie Adler, 24
• Anna Altman, 16
• Annina Ardito, 25
• Rose Bassino, 31
• Vincenza Benanti, 22
• Yetta Berger, 18
• Essie Bernstein, 19
• Jacob Bernstein, 38
• Morris Bernstein, 19
• Vincenza Billota, 16
• Abraham Binowitz, 30
• Gussie Birman, 22
• Rosie Brenman, 23
• Sarah Brenman, 17
• Ida Brodsky, 15
• Sarah Brodsky, 21
• Ada Brucks, 18
• Laura Brunetti, 17
• Josephine Cammarata, 17
• Francesca Caputo, 17
• Josephine Carlisi, 31
• Albina Caruso, 20
• Annie Ciminello, 36
• Rosina Cirrito, 18
• Anna Cohen, 25
• Annie Colletti, 30
• Sarah Cooper, 16
• Michelina Cordiano, 25
• Bessie Dashefsky, 25
• Josie Del Castillo, 21
• Clara Dockman, 19
• Kalman Donick, 24
• Nettie Driansky, 21
• Celia Eisenberg, 17
• Dora Evans, 18
• Rebecca Feibisch, 20
• Yetta Fichtenholtz, 18
• Daisy Lopez Fitze, 26
• Mary Floresta, 26
• Max Florin, 23
• Jenne Franco, 16
• Rose Friedman, 18
• Diana Gerjuoy, 18
• Molly Gerstein, 17
• Catherine Giannattasio, 22
• Celia Gitlin, 17
• Esther Goldstein, 20
• Lena Goldstein, 22
• Mary Goldstein, 18
• Yetta Goldstein, 20
• Rosie Grasso, 16
• Bertha Greb, 25
• Rachel Grossman, 18
• Mary Herman, 40
• Esther Hochfeld, 21
• Fannie Hollander, 18
• Pauline Horowitz, 19
• Ida Jukofsky, 19
• Ida Kanowitz, 18
• Tessie Kaplan, 18
• Beckie Kessler, 19
• Jacob Klein, 23
• Beckie Koppelman, 16
• Bertha Kula, 19
• Tillie Kupferschmidt, 16
• Benjamin Kurtz, 19
• Annie L’Abbate, 16
• Fannie Lansner, 21
• Maria Giuseppa Lauletti, 33
• Jennie Lederman, 21
• Max Lehrer, 18
• Sam Lehrer, 19
• Kate Leone, 14
• Mary Leventhal, 22
• Jennie Levin, 19 • Pauline Levine, 19
• Nettie Liebowitz, 23
• Rose Liermark, 19
• Bettina Maiale, 8
• Frances Maiale, 21
• Catherine Maltese, 39
• Lucia Maltese, 20
• Rosaria Maltese, 14
• Maria Manaria, 27
• Rose Mankofsky, 22
• Rose Mehl, 15
• Yetta Meyers, 19
• Gaetana Midolo, 16
• Annie Miller, 16
• Beckie Neubauer, 19
• Annie Nicholas, 18
• Michelina Nicolosi, 21
• Sadie Nussbaum, 18
• Julia Oberstein, 19
• Rose Oringer, 19
• Beckie Ostrovsky, 20
• Annie Pack, 18
• Provindenza Panno, 43
• Antonietta Pasqualicchio, 16
• Ida Pearl, 20
• Jennie Pildescu, 18
• Vincenza Pinelli, 30
• Emilia Prato, 21
• Concetta Prestifilippo, 22
• Beckie Reines, 18
• Louis Rosen (Loeb), 33
• Fannie Rosen, 21
• Israel Rosen, 17
• Julia Rosen, 35
• Yetta Rosenbaum, 22
• Jennie Rosenberg, 21
• Gussie Rosenfeld, 22
• Emma Rothstein, 22
• Theodore Rotner, 22
• Sarah Sabasowitz, 17
• Santina Salemi, 24
• Sarafina Saracino, 25
• Teresina Saracino, 20
• Gussie Schiffman, 18
• Theresa Schmidt, 32
• Ethel Schneider, 20
• Violet Schochet, 21
• Golda Schpunt, 19
• Margaret Schwartz, 24
• Jacob Seltzer, 33
• Rosie Shapiro, 17
• Ben Sklover, 25
• Rose Sorkin, 18
• Annie Starr, 30
• Jennie Stein, 18
• Jennie Stellino, 16
• Jennie Stiglitz, 22
• Sam Taback, 20
• Clotilde Terranova, 22
• Isabella Tortorelli, 17
• Meyer Utal, 23
• Catherine Uzzo, 22
• Frieda Velakofsky, 20
• Bessie Viviano, 15
• Rosie Weiner, 20
• Sarah Weintraub, 17
• Tessie Weisner, 21
• Dora Welfowitz, 21
• Bertha Wendroff, 18
• Joseph Wilson, 22
• Sonia Wisotsky, 17
