Author Archives for Ann Kammerer
A new study released this week titled, “Creating Luxury, Enduring Pain” couples new research with the stories of hotel housekeepers to paint a dramatic picture of the work of a hotel housekeeper. Findings show that behind the luxury and comfort that housekeepers provide for hotel guests is a pattern of persistent pain and injury.
The report utilizes the first comprehensive analysis of employer records of worker injuries, including records of the major five hotel companies. The analysis covers seven years (1999-2005) and 87 hotel properties with approximately 40,000 hotel employees. The report finds that not only are housekeepers injured more frequently than other hotel and service workers, but this problem is only getting worse as hotel companies implement room changes including heavier beds and linens and room amenities like coffee makers and treadmills.
Housekeepers endure this workplace pain and continue to work because they value their jobs and their customers. Valessie McCaskill, a housekeeper at the Chicago Hilton and Towers explains, “Some days my leg would swell up and I would literally limp from room to room. When the pain was at its worst, I would sit on the beds and cry because it hurt so much. In the rooms, at least no one would see me.”
Millions of Americans are working their hearts out every day but still falling short of the basics of the American Dream -” a paycheck that can support a family, affordable health care, retirement security, a voice on the job and a chance to give their kids an education and a better future. This week, Change to Win launched “Make Work Pay!,” the nation’s biggest ever effort to unite the more than 50 million workers providing the vital services that our communities depend on. These are the people who heal the sick and comfort our elderly, harvest and serve our food, and clean and protect our offices and homes.
Change to Win – a federation of seven unions representing six million working people including UNITE HERE – is working with community groups, people of faith and public officials to build an unprecedented movement to ensure that our lowest-paid workers join the middle-class and share in the American Dream.
To join this movement, go to www.changetowin.org/MWP/index.htm.
In an incredible showing, over two million documented and undocumented immigrants and supporters turned out in energetic rallies across the United States this week to demand overall immigration reform for the 11- 12 million undocumented workers living in the United States, including a path to citizenship, protection of workers’ rights and the ability to bring families together.
UNITE HERE affiliates and members turned out with other Change to Win unions from New York to Los Angeles, and helped organize the massive rallies in downtowns across the country. "I’ve been here like 15 years and I’m still a resident, not a citizen, because it takes longer and it’s more expensive," Priscilla Molina, a hotel housekeeper from El Salvador and a UNITE HERE member, told the New York Times. "We work hard, we pay taxes every year. We want all the immigrants to get to be citizens."
May Chen, manager of the New York Metropolitan Joint Board and UNITE HERE vice-president, told the crowd in New York City that "a temporary guest-worker program that simply provides a cheap labor source for employers" was unacceptable. "The road ahead is complex and dangerous," she said. "Any major change in our immigration will surely impact all of us for the next generation."
Toronto, ON-“Hundreds of UNITE HERE members, staff as well as hotel workers and supporters will be turning out for the International Women’s Day march in Toronto on Saturday, March 11. Attendance at the march will be a symbol of current labor struggles and women’s movements. UNITE HERE members have been meeting with Toronto feminist groups to strategize for the upcoming negotiations between the union and 23 Toronto hotels.
“What this struggle is about is transforming our society so that service workers can have a decent standard of living,” said Judy Rebick, CAW-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University to the website www.rabble.ca.
As in other North American cities, the majority of Toronto’s housekeepers are immigrant women who must support their families on low wages and have little job security. For a complete article, please click here. For more information about the Hotel Workers Rising campaign, visit www.hotelworkersrising.org.
Atlantic City, NJ — The Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa has announced plans to embark on a $200 million addition — phase one of a $535 million upgrade — that will add approximately 1,500 new jobs in various areas of the casino. UNITE HERE Local 54 President Robert McDevitt believes that this expansion will "create opportunities for members all over the city as jobs open up," and expects that most of the new employees will be restaurant workers in three restaurants and eight dining outlets.
"The casino is known for its very progressive leadership," McDevitt told The Press of Atlantic City. "The average employee at Borgata has a better work environment than members at other casinos in town. It’s not to say they don’t have some problems on occasion, but it is a great place to work. They do well and the employees do quite well in return."
New York, NY-"The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire commemoration is an important way for us to acknowledge the progress of our nation due in large part to the sacrifices that American workers have made. With recent tragedies about workers losing their lives dominating international headlines, this is the time for us to come together to remember the events that defined the start of our nation’s labor movement. In memory of these struggles, we would like you to join us on Friday, March 24 at 12PM for a commemoration of the Triangle Factory Fire, a definitive event in the history of American labor and in the history of New York City’s garment industry.
In an exciting four-city national tour last week, hotel workers and thousands of their supporters kicked off a historic campaign to lift hotel workers and their families out of poverty and help them achieve the American dream. Many prominent politicians were present at each of the cities and pledged to fully support the Hotel Workers Rising campaign. Senator John Edwards, who visited each of the cities during the tour, delivered a strong message of solidarity to hotel workers and promised to work with them to help them attain a better life. In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom told a crowd of over 2,000 "you cannot live a good life in an unjust society," and called rising income inequality in America "an outrage."
In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the campaign and the workers’ courage, while actor and activist Danny Glover, who also traveled to each of the cities on the tour, personally met with dozens of hotel workers in each of the cities and called them his "real brothers and sisters."
"If workers have a decent standard of living, they will give back to their communities," said Angela Reid, a non-union Hilton worker who traveled on the Hotel Workers Rising kick-off tour. "Instead of working three jobs, parents can do homework with their kids at night, keep them from joining gangs. Hotel workers, union and non-union, are going to lift each other up."
Click here to learn more about the Hotel Workers Rising campaign.
Now without a labor contract for 2 years and without health insurance for 16 months, a dozen Latino hotel workers in Monterey, California, are locked in a battle with their employer, Kilsoo Seo, who wants to trap them in low-wage, no-benefit jobs.
Seo, an out-of-town owner from Bethel, Alaska, eliminated his workers’ health insurance and pension plans entirely in October 2004. Seo’s actions left his workers to try to get by on the expensive Monterey Peninsula on only $8.84 per hour and left the workers’ 19 children without health insurance.
UNITE HERE has called for a boycott of the Monterey Bay Travelodge to aid the workers’ struggle for a fair contract and the reinstatement of their health insurance plan.
Please support the boycott by sending an email to Kilsoo Seo telling him you will not stay at his Monterey Bay Travelodge until the labor issues are settled.
Hotel workers are uniting across North America to launch a new campaign to raise awareness and build support as they seek to improve their jobs and secure better lives for themselves and their families. Despite working full time at difficult jobs with high injury rates, they still don’t earn a living wage. Hotel workers are uniting across North America to send a message to hotel companies: We are determined to make our jobs safer, middle-class jobs on which we can support our families.
Across the United States and Canada, hotel workers will be asking for support from UNITE HERE members, community leaders and allies to help them improve their lives.
Join Senator John Edwards, Actor/Director Danny Glover, Mayors and other elected officials, UNITE HERE Presidents Bruce Raynor and John Wilhelm, thousands of hotel workers, and other community, union and entertainment figures across North America:
- San Francisco, February 15, 4:30 pmParc 55 Hotel, 55 Cyril Magnin Street
- Los Angeles, February 16, 4:30 pm
Downtown Sheraton Hotel, 711 South Hope Street
- Chicago, February 17, 4:30 pm
The Drake Hotel, 140 E. Walton (at Michigan Ave), Ballroom
- Boston, February 18, 11:30 am
The Ritz-Carlton Boston, 15 Arlington Street,
Grand Ballroom
Pittston, PA-"More than 900 UNITE HERE workers at the T.J. Maxx Distribution center in Pittston overwhelmingly ratified a new contract this week. Both the union and management had been negotiating since Dec. 22, according to Nancy Hughes, a representative for the Wilkes-Barre office of UNITE HERE.
The union vote on the contract came after the company offered a -�last and final offer,-� Ms. Hughes told The Scranton Times Tribune newspaper. One of the biggest obstacles for the negotiations was over health care benefits. Under the new contract, workers will keep their current health plan.