Author Archives for Ann Kammerer
On June 13 in Orlando, over 400 UNITE HERE! members, students and allies from other unions and the community took to the streets in front of the Doubletree Universal Hotel to call for a Better Florida.
The march was the culmination of a program in which 5,000 workers filled out cards expressing their ideas about what would make Florida work for working people. Members spoke of improving access to good jobs, access to affordable health care, quality education, rights for immigrants, and public transportation.
Watch press coverage on Univision.
Toronto Star–As black-gowned graduates paraded outside the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall Tuesday, campus food service workers offered congratulations, a crossword puzzle — and a plea for help.
About 300 members of UNITE HERE Local 75 who serve food and drink at U of T’s downtown and Scarborough campuses are seeking better wages and benefits from their employers, Aramark Canada Ltd. and Compass Group Canada.
About two dozen union members handed out neon yellow information flyers with a crossword puzzle on the back for grads and their guests to complete while they waited for the ceremony to start. They used the occasion to draw attention to their plight and to put pressure on the university to step in on their behalf.
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Fighting back against abuses by non-union casinos, Local 54 has launched a campaign to enact ordinances to improve living and working conditions for thousands of non-union employees in Atlantic City. The effort focuses on actions like those taken at the non-union Revel Casino, which requires that employees re-apply for their jobs after four to six years. One of the proposed ordinances would forbid this practice and prohibit tip theft. The other ordinance would provide for paid sick and jury duty leave and partial reimbursement for childcare and public transportation/ carpooling expenses.
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San Jose, CA–About 250 workers at the Doubletree San Jose walked off the job early morning on June 4, the first strike at a Silicon Valley hotel since the region’s hotel industry began its rapid expansion in the 1980s.
Workers are confronting company efforts to impose long-term wage freezes and underfund health care, even while the hotel’s owner makes hundreds of millions in profits. The Doubletree is part of the Hilton chain – which is owned by the giant investment firm, Blackstone Group [NYSE: BX].
"I dream of sending my four year old son to preschool," said Dolores Dominguez, a banquet server who has worked at the Doubletree for 9 years. "But there’s no way I could do that right now, especially if the hotel keeps squeezing us like this. I’m on strike for my family, so I can give them a good education and keep them healthy."
The strike comes after 11 months of negotiations between workers and management, and is a milestone in the growing movement of Silicon Valley hotel workers. Workers are taking a stand against the growing inequality, where large corporations have made record profits in the past years while workers see little benefits of the economic recovery.
Blackstone, owner of the Doubletree, made over $1 billion dollars profit during the past 6 months alone, and has over $1 billion cash on hand. Already one of the largest owners of hotels worldwide, Blackstone expanded its presence in the hotel industry just last month with a $1.9 billion acquisition of the Motel 6 chain. By contrast, a hotel housekeeper at the Doubletree earns $12.80 an hour, or around $20,000 per year.
The Doubletree strike lasted until Friday, June 8. The hotel is located at 2050 Gateway Place, San Jose (near the intersection of Brokaw Road and CA101).
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Christine Ashley, a permanent U.S. resident who has had her green card for 42 years, was arrested as she returned from a visit to the U.K. and spent a month wrongly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During that month, she sketched portraits of other immigrant women detained with her. After her release, she turned those sketches into powerful paintings.
At a June 5 reception at the AFL-CIO in Washington, DC, Christine, a UNITE HERE Local 217 member who works in the Newport, R.I., school lunch program, will discuss her experience and the injustices routinely inflicted upon immigrants.
Join us for this moving exhibit and discussion.
NOTE: The exhibit is open to the public on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 1-29.
Artist Statement:
I was arrested by Home Land Security on July 28, 2011 at Boston Logan Airport.
I was returning from Great Britain where I was visiting my family.
I am a permanent resident of the United States of America and have held my green card for 42 years.
I am proud of my British heritage and equally proud of my life, my work and my family in America.
I was stunned to find myself interrogated, accused of lying to Federal Agents, arrested with no access to a lawyer and promptly incarcerated in a Boston prison.
I spend one month in prison “detained” in the I.C.E. Unit 1102 with 30 other immigrant women.
We were two or three to a cell, with the toilet bowl in plain sight. A window in the cell door exposed us to the relentless gaze of male and female guards.
This forced intimacy and shared experience of humiliation brought about an unexpected bond of caring, humility and kindness that transcended anything in my experience of life thus far.
I was able to clear my name thanks to the diligent efforts of my husband Michael, who borrowed money for my legal defense.
I was fortunate. Most of the immigrants in the prison had spent many months and in some cases, years, before either appearing before a Judge or being abruptly deported after paying large amounts of money in a desperate bid to remain in America.
I was privileged to hear many of the woman’s stories and document the particulars of their lives.
I was able to draw about 11 portraits in ball point pen and tried to commit to memory their likeness and their spirit.
Now as oil paintings, these portraits are the core of my series, “Immigrant Heart”.
This exhibition is a tribute to all Immigrants who experience injustice and pain inflicted by a system devoid of compassion or respect for human rights.
On May 16, 2012, the 74 workers at the Blackstone-owned Hilton Downtown celebrated union recognition at their hotel. They choose to join Boston’s Local 26 by card count recognition. The victory caps an 8-month organizing effort that began with underground meetings in September 2011. In December, the workers went public with 92% having signed cards and a petition demanding a fair process for union recognition. Since December, the workers have stuck together and have fought hard: they participated in a picket line outside of their hotel with over 200 union and community members, conducted a sit-in of their General Manager’s office, and staged weekly delegations to improve working conditions and win respect.
"I knew we had to keep fighting so we could have a better life for ourselves and our families," said Geraldina Teixeira who has worked as a housekeeper at the hotel for five years, "We are so happy that we’ve won the union, now we need to continue fighting for a contract and for more respect."
In joining Boston’s Local 26, the hotel workers at the Hilton Downtown join 6000 other hospitality workers in the greater Boston area.
As the city gets closer to signing new deals that will jeopardize over 1,500 Chicago jobs, hundreds of airport concessions workers and allies held an action at the Chicago O’Hare Terminal 1 departures area, calling for city officials to move forward on measures that would improve the stability of airport jobs. Actions on May 10 come in the wake of recent firings at the airport and more than two years of asking city officials to put in place job protections and a living wage for airport workers.
Much of the food and retail concessions at both O’Hare and Midway Airports are set to undergo a redevelopment overhaul in the coming months, a transition process that will affect over 1,500 workers and over $200 million in annual revenues. Redevelopment at other major U.S. airports, such as JFK in New York and Cleveland Hopkins International in Ohio, has been accompanied by labor harmony and worker protection procedures to ensure a smooth transition to new concessions operations. Chicago has, thus far, failed to implement such measures.
"I’m proud of the customer service I provide to Chicago travelers," said Maria Iniguez-Villalobos, a food server at O’Hare. "But, I depend on my job. If I lose my job, how am I going to put food on the table? How will I help pay for my kids’ college?"
Earlier this year, Chicago’s airport concessions transition process was put to the test as operations at O’Hare Terminal 5 were taken over by new companies. This transition resulted in more than half of the existing retail concessions workforce losing their jobs. Now, as upcoming transitions threaten the careers of hundreds of Chicagoans, many of them are feeling the pressure.
"There’s too much at stake for us to let this process move forward without a thoughtful worker transition," said Henry Tamarin, President of UNITE HERE Local 1. "Airport workers need to know their jobs are secure. If they got it done at airports in Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles and so many other cities, then I know it can be done here in Chicago."
On Tuesday, April 24, workers employed by Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality at Chicago State University voted overwhelmingly to join UNITE HERE Local 1.
The workers had been organizing for months in advance of the vote. "Winning a voice on the job means a lot to us. My coworkers and I have really come together to form this union because we want better lives for ourselves and our families," said Candice Cain, a member of the organizing committee who led the effort.
The workers had support from Chicago State University students and professors from the beginning. :The food workers are part of the University community. When I found out that they were organizing, I knew that I had to get involved. We are excited to work with them as partners in making Chicago State University a great place for students, staff and faculty," said Pancho McFarland, a leader of the faculty committee.
The new members of UNITE HERE Local 1 will begin bargaining for a first contract as soon as possible.
Today, May 8, more than 500 people will march and 30 will take arrest in an act of civil disobedience tomorrow to support the 10 worker-leaders fired during an organizing drive last November at Mardi Gras Casino in Florida. Those who plan to be arrested include fired workers from Mardi Gras Casino, clergy, community leaders, and workers from UNITE HERE! Local 355. The rally comes a week after the National Labor Relations Board filed complaints against the casino operators claiming, among other things, that management “threatened to discharge employees if they engaged in union activities or protected concerted activities.” The rally and civil disobedience participants have come together under the banner of the Florida Freedom Charter, a joint-community and labor effort to address the critical issues and challenges facing Florida’s working families.
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Following a thorough, four-month investigation, the National Labor Relations Board’s counsel in Miami has filed a formal complaint against the operators of the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale, Florida. The complaint comes after 10 workers who were leaders of a union organizing drive were fired in November 2011.
The complaint asserts, among other things, that management interrogated its employees about their union involvement and their coworkers’ union involvement and threatened employees with termination and other retaliations if they were to join the union. Further, the complaint charges that the operators of Mardi Gras Casino created the impression that employees were under surveillance and management implied promised benefits to employees who “refrained from engaging in union activities.”
As one of the proposed remedies, the Board’s General Counsel is also seeking an Order requiring that the 10 workers fired last November during the beginnings of an organizing drive receive full back pay. Mardi Gras must respond to this complaint on or before May 14, 2012.
"This is a huge victory for me personally, for our organizing at Mardi Gras, and for any worker who is strong enough to stand up for what she believes," said Tashana McKenzie, a slot attendant who is one of those workers whom NLRB Counsel says was illegally fired at the casino. “This is also a victory for the thousands of our supporters across the country.”
The 10 workers were fired last November shortly after workers at the casino started to organize to join UNITE HERE, a union that represents more than 150,000 gaming and hospitality workers across the country. Workers have rallied community support around the region through a Facebook page, "Bring Back the Mardi Gras 10.”(Facebook.com/BringBackTheMardiGras10)
Fr. Richard Aguilar, and Episcopal priest and supporter of the Mardi Gras 10, was pleased to hear about the federal complaint. “In the past few weeks, many of us in the faith community have prayed and discussed the importance of this fight: what it means to our congregations, what it means to the community and what it means to the thousands of disenfranchised minority workers in our tourism based economy. I’m proud to support the Mardi Gras 10 and a new vision for Florida.”
The complaint comes less than a week before UNITE HERE Local 355, the union which represents over 5,400 hotel, airport, stadium, and casino workers in South Florida, will conduct a major rally and march in support of the workers at Mardi Gras and to promote the tenets of the Florida Freedom Charter. The march on May 8 will begin at BF James Park in Hallandale at 6pm and end in front of Mardi Gras Casino.