In an overwhelming show of solidarity, 95% of Local 5’s membership at the Hilton Hawaiian Village voted ‘YES’ on authorizing a strike at the Waikiki property. Workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village now join Hilton workers in Chicago and San Francisco who have also voted to authorize strikes at Hilton Hotels in each of their cities.

Cora Quinesares, a housekeeper at the Hilton said, "I voted yes, yes, yes! Yes for good quality jobs. Yes for job security and yes for my future. I work for a hotel that’s owned by Blackstone and they continue to use the economy as an excuse to hurt workers like me even while business is back. I’m proud of all us for standing-up to Wall Street’s greed."

In recent years, Hilton workers in Hawaii and across North America have endured staff cuts, reduced hours, and excessive injury rates. Now Hilton, run by one of the largest private equity firms on Wall Street—the Blackstone Group, wants to take more away, and lock workers into recession contracts even as the economy rebounds.

Delta East hotel workers went on strike at midnight tonight at yet another Westmont-owned hotel in Toronto when bargaining talks broke down. Frustrated that the hotel chain is trying to make the recession permanent for workers, this is now the fourth strike by workers at a Westmont property in the past two weeks.

"Conditions at this hotel are unbearable for workers. We’re understaffed, our workloads keep increasing and yet there is no security or assurance that we will have enough work to take care of our families now or in the future," said Ingrid Moncriffe, a Room Attendant at the Delta East. "Westmont’s lack of respect for workers is having a negative impact not just on our lives, but the lives of more than 2,000 workers across the city."

"My hours have been cut so much that even though I’m working seven days a week, I still can’t make 40 hours," said Maria Richards who has worked as a second cook at the Delta East for 12 years. "I went to school and graduated as a professional, but all my training and certification is being totally dismissed."

Hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency have staged another one-day walkout Sunday, September 12, bringing to three the number of hotels experiencing strikes during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Hotel workers, who also staged a one-day strike at the Westmont-owned Fairmont Royal York last Friday and the Holiday in on Bloor St. on Saturday, have earned the full support of the film sector including ACTRA Toronto, IATSE Local 873 and film celebrities including Martin Sheen. "The film industry relies on the hotel sector, and we’re not going to stand by and let these hotel workers be exploited," said Heather Allin, Toronto president of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.

"As TIFF celebrates the new Bell Lightbox with a street party for Torontonians, and the Hyatt boosts its profits with film guests this week, we continue to be treated like second-class citizens by the Hyatt owners," said Althea Porter-Harvey, a Room Attendant at the Hyatt Regency. "We deserve better than that. We’re joining the street party today."

Local 75 spokesperson Cruz-Haicken explained that all of the hotels being targeted for these demonstrations are owned by the same company, which is engaged in contract talks with UNITE HERE.

"We exercised restraint and have provided quality service at Toronto hotels owned by Westmont through the G20, the Queen’s visit, Pride Week and Caribana," added Porter-Harvey. "Westmont has had ample time to sit down and negotiate with us as contracts have expired, but they’ve chosen to ignore us and treat us with disrespect."

Striking workers contend hotel management is trying to lock them into cutbacks and new shift schedules imposed during the recession.

TORONTO–Workers at the Fairmont Royal York have gone on strike as of midnight Thursday in the midst of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and will hold a media conference today at 1:30 pm to discuss the situation. The workers, who will start picketing outside the Fairmont Royal York at 7:00 a.m. this morning, say their patience has run out with hotel owners who have dragged their heels through the G20 and busy summer season. Workers are protesting working conditions characterized by increased workloads, cutbacks and shortened shifts and high injury rates.

The strike, which follows on the heels of a one-day strike last week at TIFF hotel headquarters Hyatt Regency, has gained the support of ACTRA and IATSE Toronto locals and film industry celebrities, to be announced at the press conference.

At this event:
Date: Friday September 10, 2010
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Fairmont Royal York Toronto
              100 Front Street West, in front of hotel

Speakers will include:

• Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto
• Bob Hall, President of IATSE Local 873
• Cleve Jones, originator of AIDS Quilt and advisor to the film "Milk"
• Michelle Williams, Valet Attendant at the Fairmont Royal York
• John Sultana, Banquet Server at the Hyatt Regency

At 4:30 pm the same day, hotel workers from across the city will march with the Fairmont workers to the Hyatt Regency.

The Fairmont Royal York and the Hyatt Regency are owned by Westmont Group, which owns or operates 13 hotels that are in bargaining with the union. Local 75 represents over 7,000 hotel, hospitality and gaming workers in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information, please visit www.uniteherelocal75.org.

Fairmont Royal York workers have voted to authorize strike action by midnight this Thursday if the hotel chain cannot come to the bargaining table with an offer that will ensure decent jobs and working conditions for the workers. Over 86% voted for strike authorization at the hotel, which is hosting guests of the Toronto International Film Festival this week.

"We are prepared to protest all day Friday if the glaring problems at work remain ignored. We worked hard during the G20 Summit and the busy summer tourist season. But it’s now time to put our needs first. We’ve worked off stage to keep the hotel running, unrecognized and unappreciated for too long. The hotels are profiting, but we are shut out of a better future for ourselves and our children," said Myleen Piansay, a Steward at the Fairmont Royal York.

The workers, who are primarily immigrants, women and people of colour, make the beds, mix drinks, serve banquets, wash dishes and provide virtually all the front-line service that hotel guests receive. Their contract expired on July 16th of this year.

A delegation of over 50 New Haven school cafeteria workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 217, visited the office of New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. on September 7 to submit a petition signed by an overwhelming majority of their coworkers, calling on the city to negotiate a fair contract that preserves workers’ benefits.

Nearly 200 New Haven cafeteria workers are negotiating a new contract with the New Haven Board of Education, after their previous contract expired at the end of June.

"We’re among the lowest-paid city employees, so our health benefits are very important to us," says Cathy Rubano, a cook who’s worked in the schools for 19 years. "This matters a lot to our families."

"We deserve a fair contract," says Cheryl Barbara, a cook with 22 years of service. "We work hard to take care of the kids in our city, and we should be treated with respect."

Hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency, home of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, have begun a one-day walkout after they bargained past a midnight deadline without reaching a new agreement.

Picketing began at 7:30 a.m. on September 3. A massive rally of hotel workers and others from across the city will take place at 5:30 p.m. in front of the hotel. Unions from the film sector will rally in support of the hotel workers, saying that good hotel jobs, like good film jobs, are vital for the economic health of the city.

"We will be holding one day of action on Friday and will be back to work on Saturday," explained Althea Porter-Harvey, a Hyatt employee and member of UNITE HERE Local 75 which represents the workers. “We are still hopeful we can reach an agreement."

“Our industry spends a lot of money on hotels and it’s frankly shocking to discover that the people who work so hard to make up the rooms we’re paying for are being treated so poorly," said Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto. "If Toronto’s hotel workers cannot resolve relations with Hyatt to ensure workers are treated with respect, then my union will support Hyatt workers in this city and across the continent. They deserve to make a decent living from the work they do. Hyatt will face a determined boycott if they aren’t fair to the hard working people who make their hotels possible."

Read the full press release here.

Workers at the Hyatt Regency near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport are on strike. Hyatt O’Hare workers join Hyatt workers in several cities across North America who are striking as part of a wave of demonstrations this week by thousands of hotel workers protesting Hyatt (NYSE: H) and its billionaire ownership family, the Pritzkers.

Union contracts covering Hyatt O’Hare workers and approximately 8,000 other Chicago-area hotel workers expired on August 31, 2009. On July 29, 2010, hundreds of Hyatt O’Hare workers, who are members of UNITE HERE Local 450, and UNITE HERE Local 1 members at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Park Hyatt, Hyatt McCormick Place, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, with 92% voting in favor of striking. The vote represents a major escalation of a citywide labor dispute among Chicago’s downtown hotels and with Hyatt in particular, which has become the target of labor demonstrations across North America in recent weeks.

"Life has been hard for me and my family, ever since Hyatt laid off my husband in the laundry," says Carmen Sandoval, a UNITE HERE Local 450 member and room attendant of 30 years at the Hyatt O’Hare outside Chicago, where union contracts expired over a year ago. "Now they have us working harder and faster with fewer people, and people are getting injured. I have to take Tylenol everyday just to get through my shift. I am on strike because I’m tired of billionaires profiting from our pain."

To read more, click here.

Just days before Labor Day, Hyatt workers in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Chicago and Toronto went on strike, as part of a wave of demonstrations in ten cities last week by hotel workers protesting Hyatt and its billionaire ownership family, the Pritzkers. Workers say the company is trying to make the recession permanent for its employees, despite significantly improving industry conditions and Hyatt’s increased profitability and huge cash reserves.

Multi-city strikes last week represent a major escalation in a labor dispute involving Hyatt, which has been the target of a number of major demonstrations by union and non-union hotel workers this summer. Hotel workers have endured months of chronic understaffing and excessive injury rates. Now Hyatt wants to take more away and lock workers into recession contracts even as the economy rebounds. Nationwide, the hotel industry is rebounding faster and stronger than expected, with a hearty rebound projected in 2011 and 2012. While many hotel workers live in poverty, the Pritzker Family cashed out over $900 million in their sale of Hyatt shares in November 2009.

"Life has been very difficult for my family since the Hyatt eliminated my bartending position two years ago," said Sonia Cruz, a 17-year Hyatt Century Plaza employee in Los Angeles. "I have had to piece together shifts, working in various positions and still most weeks, only getting three days of work. As business improves in the hotel, we want the Hyatt to reinstate our jobs, add shifts to the schedule and let the workers share in the economic recovery."

In addition to strikes, hotel workers held Hyatt protests in Boston, Vancouver, Sacramento, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Burlingame, and Santa Clara. Actions ranged from Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN) walking the picket line with non-union Hyatt workers in Indianapolis to a rally in Boston with the "Hyatt 100" and hundreds of supporters to mark the one-year anniversary of Hyatt firing their entire housekeeping staff at the three Boston-area Hyatt hotels.

To read more about the events in each city, visit www.hotelworkersrising.org.

Just days before Labor Day, Hyatt workers in several cities across North America are striking, as part of a wave of demonstrations this week by thousands of hotel workers protesting Hyatt (NYSE: H) and its billionaire ownership family, the Pritzkers. Workers say the company is trying to make the recession permanent for its employees, despite significantly improving industry conditions and Hyatt’s increased profitability and huge cash reserves.

Multi-city strikes this week represent a major escalation in a labor dispute involving Hyatt and its billionaire owners—the Pritzker Family—who have been the target of a number of major demonstrations in more than a dozen cities across North America this summer. Hotel workers have endured months of chronic understaffing and excessive injury rates. Now Hyatt wants to take more away and lock workers into recession contracts even as the economy rebounds. While many hotel workers live in poverty, the Pritzker Family cashed out over $900 million in their sale of Hyatt shares in November 2009.

Click here to read the full press release.