Chanting "HEI, you’re no good; treat your workers like you should," dozens of university students from across the country walked the picket line in solidarity with hotel workers outside the Sheraton Crystal City in Virginia on Saturday night, January 29, expressing outrage over labor rights violations allegedly committed by the hotel and its corporate investor, HEI.

"We’re out here tonight to fight for justice for these workers and for their right to decide if they want to join a union," Brown University senior Lenora Knowles told Union City. "Students from all across America are urging our universities to stop investing in HEI because of the numbers of reported workers’ rights violations committed by HEI and its hotels." The workers say they are facing cuts in staffing, increased workloads, and low wages.

“This last year has been very difficult," said Herman Romero, a cook who says he was fired for speaking out about wanting to join a union, but then reinstated after protest over the hotel’s actions. "I’m very grateful though to see so many people stand with us; they give us strength."

UNITE HERE organizers told Union City that the workers’ campaign "got an important boost recently" when members of the Brown Student Labor Alliance–which is affiliated with United Students Against Sweatshops–worked with their university’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policy to "make an official recommendation that Brown should not invest any more money in HEI until it resolves allegations of labor abuses." They say that students plan to encourage other universities to also reconsider their investment in HEI. Unfair Labor Practice charges are currently pending with the National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel.

To learn more, visit www.heiworkersrising.org.

-excerpted report/photo by Adam Wright, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO

Workers from the Wilshire Hotel struck for one day on January 26, after hotel owner Leo Lee slashed workers’ wages and benefits.

For example, Lee cut wages of workers earning about $10 an hour to the state’s minimum wage of $8 an hour, while others earning about $13.70 were cut to about $10 an hour. He also drastically cut workers’ healthcare benefits.

At the Wilshire Hotel, formerly the Wilshire Plaza, workers have been working under an expired contract since 2006. They have not received a wage raise in more than four years.

"After 14 years of service, I am furious," said Teresa Martinez, a 66-year-old housekeeper. "The housekeeping work I do has taken a serious toll on my body, and as a thank you, Mr. Lee slashed our wages and benefits. We are human. We deserve to be treated with respect."

The workers’ strike comes while more than 4,000 LA-area union hotel workers are without a contract in more than 20 hotels. Most of the contracts expired in November of 2009. Just two weeks ago, hotel workers at the Luxe City Center at LA Live also walked off the job in a one-day strike.

On January 13, 2011, UNITE HERE Local 75 members at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel ratified their new collective agreement with 89% voting in favor.

This comes after significant mobilization of Local 75 hotel workers across the city, starting with a citywide strike authorization vote last May, a two-day strike at the Novotel Toronto Centre during the G20 Summit, rolling one-day strikes at Westmont-owned hotels during the Toronto International Film Festival, and a two-week strike at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. The Royal York is the fifth hotel to settle after the Delta Chelsea Hotel strike.

Michelle Williams, a member of the Union’s Negotiating Committee, said, "I’m very pleased with the result. This is a step forward for us and for all hotel workers in the city."

The agreement has no concessions and includes improvements in wages, health benefits, retirement, job security, subcontracting protections, workload, and the TTC pass subsidy.

Workers from the Luxe City Center Hotel (formerly the Holiday Inn Downtown) walked off the job on January 13 in a one-day strike.

Hotel housekeepers led the walkout, demanding that management remove unfair disciplinary actions from their work records. Housekeepers say Luxe management gradually increased their workload over the past year, then punished workers in December when they didn’t finish the work.

The downtown hotel changed its name from the Holiday Inn to the Luxe City Center in June of 2010. Along with the name change, owners renovated the 195-room hotel and increased room amenities by adding pillows, linens and robes and replaced tubs with shower stalls with glass doors, all of which has meant more work for housekeepers. The increased tasks require housekeepers to do more to clean the rooms in the same amount of time.

"Thanks in part to the expansion of L.A. Live, Luxe hotel business is booming but instead of hiring new housekeepers, management is adding to our workload," said Vanessa Aveldano, a housekeeper of five years. "We’ve had enough."

The Luxe hotel workers’ contract, like thousands of other hotel workers in Los Angeles, has been expired for more than a year.

"Striking Luxe workers are fighting back against a jobless economic recovery," said Tom Walsh, president of the hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE Local 11. "Los Angeles’ tourism industry, especially around L.A. Live, is thriving. Now is the time to give housekeepers more time to clean each room and put more Angelenos to work."

At its most recent meeting December 6, 2010, the Brown University Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policy (ACCRIP) unanimously recommended that Brown, a current investor in HEI Hotels and Resorts, should not further invest in the company in the future, until HEI proves it meets Brown’s ethical standards for investment. ACCRIP has previously advised against investment in tobacco companies and companies that support and profit from genocide in Sudan, and all of its recommendations have been implemented in the past.

The decision to divest comes after years of organizing by students affiliated with the Brown Student Labor Alliance, one of a number of campus groups nationwide organizing for university divestment from HEI Hotels. HEI Hotels and Resorts, one of the fastest growing national hotel management companies, raises funds largely from the investments of prestigious universities.

For more information, visit HEIWorkersRising.org

Hotel workers at the Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel in Downtown Seattle ratified their first ever Union contract. The agreement provides workers with wage increases, free health coverage for individuals, safe workloads for housekeepers, as well as job security protections through a no subcontracting pledge from the employer.

The ratification vote marked the end of a long bargaining process that began over a year ago. The workers won union recognition in September of 2009, and have since worked hard to earn a strong first collective bargaining agreement. UNITE HERE Local 8 represents housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers, banquet, front desk, and bell positions at the hotel.

"I am excited that we won our first contract. It is a big victory for us here at the hotel, and for hotel workers in Seattle," said Lina Evangelista, who works in the laundry department and was one of the bargaining committee members on hand to count the ballots. "We all want a better future for ourselves, and we made a big step forward together."

On Friday, December 17, hotel workers in Vancouver, British Columbia, overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract with the Greater Vancouver Hotel Employers Association (GVHEA). The terms of the agreement contain improvements in health benefits, including the goal of expanding workers’ year-around access to medical coverage. This means fewer hotel workers and their families will risk losing their benefits during part of the year. Workers also secured greater dental coverage for their families.

"One of the most important gains we made was improving eligibility for health care benefits. Now more of our co-workers will keep their extended health care and dental benefits during slower parts of the year. I am also happy we won housekeeping workload relief which means housekeepers will no longer have to skip their breaks to finish rooms, can rely less on painkillers, and actually get to enjoy the time they spend with their families after work – instead of losing that time due to pain," said Nadeen Abenes, a Hyatt room attendant and member of the union bargaining committee.

Improved retirement security was another major goal. Workers secured the largest pension increase they have negotiated to date in any previous GVHEA contract. This was a victory for the many long-term workers who have given 15, 20, and some, 30 years or more, of service to these hotels.

On December 17, workers from the world’s largest airline catering company protested their employer’s failure to negotiate in good faith, and its failure to address food safety issues.

Sky Chefs employees, who have been struggling to negotiate a reasonable contract with their employer for more than a year, rallied near the Sky Chefs factory in Los Angeles, where Sky Chefs employs about 500 workers who prepare in-flight food for several airlines that fly out of LAX. Nationwide the company employs about 7,000 workers.

Workers’ last contract was negotiated in 2006, when Sky Chefs was in financial trouble, and in order to keep the company solvent, workers accepted wage and benefit cuts. Now, Sky Chefs is again profitable, and workers are seeking to recoup some of the losses they experienced five years ago.

"In 2006, we sacrificed wages and benefits to keep the company alive, and now that the company is making money again, we need affordable healthcare," said Clara Meza, a Sky Chefs employee for 27 years and earns about $11 an hour. "Under Sky Chef’s proposal, I would not be able to afford healthcare for myself and my son, who has asthma and needs to be able to see a doctor. It’s unacceptable."

Just before the holiday season, Hilton workers in Chicago walked off the job for a day, and workers in San Francisco and Honolulu marched to protest Hilton’s attempt to lock workers into recession contracts.

In Chicago, hundreds of Palmer House Hilton workers walked off the job for the first time in the history of this historic downtown Chicago hotel. Picketing in the cold Chicago winter with signs that read "Taxpayers Strike Hilton," Hilton workers protested how Hilton is taking unfair advantage of the recession by squeezing workers, even though they finagled a $180 million bailout from the federal government.

Over 650 hotel workers, clergy leaders and members from other unions including the AFT, ILWU, and Teamsters marched in solidarity at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco. Recently, Blackstone, the hotel’s owner, set aside, on average, $3.46 million for each corporate employee, but management has refused to sign a worker proposal for health care to cover all 850 workers’ families for between $2.5 and $3 million a year.

Hilton Hawaiian Village workers leafleted on December 16 at the Ala Moana Center and the Honolulu Airport, to inform visitors about their efforts to settle a fair contract. Hawaiian Village workers in UNITE HERE Local 5 have been without a contract for over five months.

See below for press coverage:
Palmer House workers’ one-day walkout protests long talks (Chicago Sun-Times)
Union Broadens Hilton Protest (Honolulu Star Advertiser)

Chicago Video:

Just days before the holidays, hotel workers at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago have walked off the job, launching a day long strike to protest Hilton’s efforts to lock workers into the recession. Holding signs that read "Taxpayers on Strike," workers say that Hilton is taking unfair advantage of the recession by squeezing workers even though they wheedled a $180 million bailout from the federal government. Other actions were held at the world’s largest Hiltons in Honolulu and San Francisco.

Citywide union hotel contracts expired more than 15 months ago. Two months ago, Hilton Chicago workers carried out a 3-day strike.