On the 12th anniversary of September 11, 2001, UNITE HERE remembers all those who lost their lives on that tragic day. We hold especially close the memory of our 43 sisters and brothers from UNITE HERE Local 100 who died while working at Windows on the World, a restaurant located at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
In memory of our fallen brothers and sisters at Windows on the World:
Sophia Buruwa Addo
Shabbir Ahmed
Antonio J. Alvarez
Telmo Alvear
Manuel O. Asitimbay
Samuel Ayala
Ivhan Luis Carpio Bautista
Jesus Cabezas
Manuel Gregorio Chavez
Mohammed S. Chowdhury
Jose De Pena
Nancy Diaz
Henry Fernandez
Lucille Virgen Francis
Enrique A. Gomez
Jose B. Gomez
Wilder Gomez
Ysidro Hidalgo Tejada
John Holland
Francois Jean-Pierre
Eliezer Jimenez Jr.
Abdoulaye Kone
Victor Kwarkye
Jeffrey Latouche
Lebardo Lopez
Jan Maciejewski
Manuel Mejia
Antonio Melendez
Nana Akwasi Minkah
Martin Morales
Blanca Morocho
Jerome Nedd
Juan Nieves Jr.
Jose R. Nunez
Isidro Ottenwalder
Jesus Ovalles
Victor Paz Gutierrez
Alejo Perez
Moises Rivas
David B. Rodriguez Vargas
Gilbert Ruiz
Juan Salas
Abdoul Karim Traore
The families and coworkers of those mostly immigrant workers talk about their loss, their dreams, and their challenges in the movie "Windows."
Eighty workers with HMS Host at the Indianapolis Airport have ratified their first union contract. On August 28, 2013, workers voted yes on a four year agreement that includes significant raises, job security protections, and reduced health care costs. They were recognized as a union in March of this year.
The contract comes after a month of negotiations with HMS Host. The agreement provides for $1.75 to $1.90 in raises for non-tipped employees over the next four years, the first raises for tipped employees since the airport’s opening, and seniority rights for job openings and scheduling.
"I’m extremely excited about the settlement," said Starbucks Barista and Union negotiating committee member Marcus Gibson. "These will be the first raises I’ve received since starting at HMS over 6 months ago. They will allow me to take better care of my family."
HMS Host workers join over 130 unionized food service workers at Indianapolis Airport employed by SSP America and AREAS USA. Nearly 500 food service workers have joined UNITE HERE in Indianapolis in the last couple years. In addition to the workers at the city’s airport restaurants, UNITE HERE represents food service and campus operations workers at IUPUI and Marian and Butler Universities.
By D. Taylor, via the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
"Recently it was my honor to be elected to CLINIC’s Board of Directors. CLINIC has been providing a life-saving service to immigrants across the country since 1988. Many of the 300,000 members of the union I serve are themselves immigrants, and many have been helped by CLINIC’s important work. So in this Labor Day reflection I’d like to focus on the reality of immigrant workers and what they face every day."
According to the Migration Policy Institute, immigrant workers make up about 14.7% of the overall U.S. workforce. It is estimated that by 2030 between a third and a half of the U.S. workforce will be made up of immigrants. This growth is most notable in the leisure, hospitality and service industries with which I am most familiar. These workers are hardworking people who just want the opportunity to provide for their families.
Close on the heels of an East-Bay-wide strike of fast food workers, 180 Oakland Airport food and retail workers walked off the job on Friday, August 30th. They are protesting unfair labor practices by their employer, Host International, including regressive bargaining and a retaliatory lawsuit filed against the union. Host’s most recent proposals would strip away benefits the workers have depended on for years.
"I’m striking because I’ve worked here for 22 years, I raised my family on this job, and now Host wants us to give up the benefits my co-workers and I have fought to protect for all these years," says Monica Guzman, a retail cashier.
The workers have been in contract negotiations with Host for the past year. Their wages are already low – retail clerks earn between $9.75 and $12.64 an hour. Host’s latest proposal would gut their contract: drastically reducing vacation and sick days; eliminating pensions, paid meal breaks; cutting pay for new hires and freezing longtime workers’ wages for five years; and removing workers from the union’s affordable health insurance plan.
"I’m striking today because Host doesn’t think we should get overtime pay if we work more than 8 hours", says Marisol Chavez-Lopez, a cook at Max’s Deli. "We don’t live in the nineteenth century!"
The airport workers are joining a growing movement of food and retail workers fighting for better pay and benefits. Fast food workers across the country have organized actions calling for higher minimum wages – including an East-Bay-wide fast food strike on August 29th. And Walmart workers launched a national strike last May, and are building for an action in San Francisco on September 5th.
The workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 2850, has tried for a year to reach a fair compromise through negotiation – but Host’s proposals have only gotten worse for workers. "The only movement Host has made is backward. We hope that the Port of Oakland will step in to help resolve this dispute," said Local 2850 President Wei-Ling Huber.
Following an organizing effort that brought together airport workers from across the country, Delaware North employees have ratified a new union contract. The bargaining was led by a national bargaining committee comprised of cooks, servers, cashiers, hosts, bartenders and utilities employees from fourteen airports around the country. The workers approved their contract by a vote of 507 to 3.
The new contract includes improvements to the workers health care plans, as well as the cost paid by the employees out of their paycheck, protection from part-time work, improvement to discipline language, and vacation improvements. Congratulations on the new contract!
Last Saturday, hundreds of UNITE HERE leaders and members participated in the March on Washington to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement more broadly, which continues to inspire our union’s work today.
In a new piece on Beyond Chron, Martin Bennett, a labor scholar and policy analyst for UNITE HERE Local 2850, joined by Fred Glass of the California Federation of Teachers, reflect on the longstanding connections between the civil rights movement and "contemporary movements for social and economic justice."
SEATTLE, WA — Seattle Hyatt hotel workers and supporters are launching a boycott of the Hyatt at Olive 8 and the Grand Hyatt Seattle, denouncing difficult working conditions, unaffordable healthcare, and use of subcontracted workers. Seattle Hyatt workers also say the hotels’ local owner, Richard Hedreen, has refused to agree to a fair process for workers to form a union free from management intimidation–a process backed by Hyatt Hotels in a recent national agreement. In response, workers are calling on customers to not eat, meet, or sleep at the two local hotels until the matter is resolved.
"The boycott may cost workers like me money, but the cost of doing nothing is much greater," says Yuan Ping Tang, a houseman at the Hyatt at Olive 8. Yuan Ping and his coworkers report difficulty in affording Hyatt health insurance, which can cost as much as $400 a month for a family of four. They also say more work is being done by subcontracted workers, who are typically paid less with even fewer benefits.
In addition, hotel housekeeping work is difficult work that can lead to debilitating pain and injuries from years lifting heavy mattresses and scrubbing floors. At the Hyatt at Olive 8, women often clean on their hands and knees and lug supplies from room to room without even the simple aid of a housekeeper cart. Instead, they must use a small suitcase to haul supplies and run around to restock linens, which requires rushing and strain that can cause injuries.
"I struggle to finish my rooms on time, and usually skip breaks," says Minyi Li, who has worked as a housekeeper at the Olive 8 and the Grand Hyatt Seattle for more than 9 years. By contrast, unionized hotel workers in Seattle enjoy health and safety protections, job security, and affordable family healthcare, among other benefits.
In response, workers have called for a fair process to form a union. In July, UNITE HERE and Hyatt Hotels at the corporate level reached a national agreement on such a process, which has gone forward at other Hyatts in the U.S. To date, local owner Richard Hedreen has refused to implement the agreed elections process in Seattle. But workers are not discouraged, having experienced recent organizing victories. Three months after workers began organizing last year, Hyatt agreed to give many workers raises of $1 to $3 per hour.
"Richard Hedreen has done the right thing for his workers in the past, and Hyatt has removed any roadblocks for him to do so in this instance," says King County Council Chair Larry Gossett. "We are asking him to step up and give workers a truly sustainable and secure future in Seattle." King County Councilmembers Larry Gossett, Joe McDermott, Julia Patterson, and Larry Phillips endorsed the boycott today. Others can endorse the boycott by taking the online pledge.
The Grand Hyatt Seattle has 425 rooms and employs approximately 200 workers. The Hyatt at Olive 8 has 350 rooms and employs approximately 200 workers. UNITE HERE Local 8 represents more than 4,000 hospitality workers in the Pacific Northwest.
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) sent recall letters to 1,157 previously laid off student safety staff Wednesday afternoon. This announcement is a critical step to ensure student safety when schools open on September 9. The recalls come after the Fast for Safe Schools drew local and national attention to the critical role of student safety staff in the Philadelphia public schools.
The District still faces a steep budget shortfall and neither the city, state nor school district have put forward a plan for long-term, stable funding. Additional funding and staffing is needed to create the environment and provide the education that Philadelphia’s children deserve. Nevertheless, the parents and staff who fasted for safe schools were heartened by the district’s announcement.
"I feel so relieved," exclaimed Earlene Bly, who fasted in both June and August. "Now I know that my daughter and grandson will be going to school on September 9th and they’ll be able to walk the halls and lunchrooms with the student safety staff there to watch out for them. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders."
"It will feel so good going back to work in September," said Juanita Jones, a Lead Food Service Worker at Olney Elementary School. "I can’t wait to see all my safety staff all around the school working to make sure that all students are safe."
The District decided to recall nearly all laid off student safety staff one week after more than 100 parents, clergy, students and SDP staff spent the day fasting and rallying on the district’s steps. In June, the District laid off 1,202 student safety staff (also known as noontime aides). The move sparked the 15-day Fast for Safe Schools encampment outside of Governor Corbett’s Philadelphia office to draw attention to the critical role student safety staff play in preventing violence and defusing tensions in the lunchrooms, hallways and schoolyards of SDP schools.
When retiring student safety staff are taken into account, the SDP has recalled nearly every student safety staff person available for recall.
Workers strike to end second-class wages, benefits, heavy workloads
Sheraton Vancouver Airport workers held a one-day strike on Saturday, August 17, to protest fourteen months of management delays and stalled negotiations. This is the first strike by hotel workers in the Vancouver area in 13 years. Sheraton workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, are striking for good jobs in the tourism industry – one of the key drivers of Metro Vancouver’s economy.
Sheraton Vancouver Airport, owned by the Lalji family, who were ranked among the top 25 richest Canadians in 2012, serves as a stark example of why workers need better industry standards. Even though a room at the Sheraton can cost well over $200 a night, a room attendant cleans more rooms and changes more beds, but earns $2 an hour less, than her counterparts at competing union hotels, like the Delta Vancouver Airport. Their medical and pension benefits are also inferior to workers at other unionized hotels. To date, Sheraton management has refused to meet with workers and Local 40 to bargain over any hotel-specific issues.
"I am striking because we have seen no progress in over a year of bargaining," said Ana Wong, a room attendant for 22 years. "While the owners make a lot of money, we make peanuts compared to other union hotels and don’t have similar benefits. Our workloads are heavier too. We may change up to 32 beds a day, lifting heavy mattresses repeatedly. Sometimes we have to work through our breaks just to finish our work. I’ve seen so many co-workers injured because of the workload, but we don’t even have the same health benefits other unionized hotel workers have."
The Sheraton is one of 47 hotels, pubs and liquor stores currently in bargaining with their employers to improve working conditions in the hospitality industry. Little progress has been made in over a year of negotiations thus far. In July, workers from Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, Kamloops, Harrison Hot Springs, Fort St. John and other communities voted to authorize strikes at their workplaces in response to the lack of progress in bargaining with owners and operators represented by Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR). The workers’ contract expired on May 31, 2012.
Strikes at other properties currently in bargaining with HIR are likely.
To inform hotel guests traveling to BC about potential job actions, Local 40 has launched a "Watch List" on our new customer website: www.BCHotelCustomerAdvisory.org.
Today, employees at Calder Casino voted to unionize, becoming the third south Florida casino to organize their union. UNITE HERE Local 355 is pleased to announce that casino management have recognized their employees wishes. Calder workers join their fellow members in the gaming industry at Isle Casino in Pompano Beach and Gulfstream Casino in Hallandale Beach.
“Today was a victory for all casino workers,” said Yolette Lareus, a cook at the casino. “This was a long journey, but we did it. I’m so proud of all of my co-workers and am grateful to all the other union members from around South Florida that came out to support us.”
Local 355 members in the hospitality industry volunteered to help unionize the workers at Calder Casino. Rachelle Laurent, a member at the Diplomat Hotel, was one of many who were happy to be a part of this victory. “I’ve grown with my union and my union is growing because of me. When we stick together, we have a better future in Florida.”
Calder workers will soon begin negotiations for their contract. Workers at the Magic City Casino are also in the process of organizing the Union. With recent union victories at Marlins Park, Hudson concession units at Miami International and the new St. Regis Hotel in Bal Harbor, UNITE HERE Local 355 now represents over 6,000 casino, hotel, airport concessions and food service workers in South Florida.