Fed up with layoffs and pay cuts, hotel workers boycott 8 Columbia Sussex hotels
Hotel workers say "Stop making us pay for your debts!"
Washington, DC – Today, hotel workers told Columbia Sussex Corporation that they are tired of paying for the company’s debt and want a fair process to organize a union at rallies around the country, and they called on customers to boycott 8 hotels owned by the company, according to UNITE HERE, the hotel workers union.
In the past few years, hotel workers at 4 union hotels owned and operated by Columbia Sussex – Baltimore Sheraton City Center in Maryland, Hilton Crystal City in Northern Virginia, Anchorage Hilton in Alaska and Hilton Sacramento West in California – have faced a variety of cuts, including layoffs, benefit reductions, pay freezes, higher costs for health insurance, and/or work speed-ups in the wake of their hotel’s acquisition by Columbia Sussex. These four hotels are already subject to boycotts, and today, UNITE HERE is calling on customers to boycott 4 additional non-union, Columbia Sussex hotels in support of its call for a fair process for workers at these hotels to decide whether or not to unionize. They are: Westin Washington DC City Center, Westin Emerald Plaza San Diego, Wyndham Chicago and Westin Chicago Northwest.
Mary Lee Hinant, a Baltimore Sheraton laundry worker for 34 years, said: "Ever since banks lent all that money to Columbia Sussex to buy my hotel, my paycheck is smaller, I don’t qualify for health insurance anymore, and my co-workers are laid off."
Columbia Sussex is the fourth largest owner of full service hotels in the U.S., building its 67-hotel empire during the boom years by borrowing heavily to buy hotels. 5 of the 8 boycotted hotels were acquired by Columbia Sussex in 2005 in a package of 14 hotels, where 79% of the purchase price was borrowed. The $1.1 billion of debt supported by these 14 hotels comes due in October 2010. This debt was sold to lenders and investors as commercial mortgage backed securities called Bear Stearns 2006-BBA7 and collateralized debt obligations called Guggenheim 2005-1 and Brascan 2005-2.
"Since Columbia Sussex bought the hotel several years ago, staffing has been cut. Columbia Sussex reduced our wages by 3% across the board and stopped paying the match on our 401Ks," said Laurence Green, a 24-year cook at the Westin Washington DC City Center.
"I don’t know who’s to blame: Columbia Sussex, the banks, or both. But I’m tired of being squeezed every which way in their cost cutting," says Vickie Castro, a housekeeping office clerk for 23 years at the Anchorage Hilton.
Event Details:
Sacramento, CA
When: Thursday, March 25 at 4:30pm PST
Where: Outside Hilton Arden West, Sacramento, CA
Anchorage, AK
When: Thursday, March 25 at 4pm AKDT
Where: Outside Hilton Anchorage on 3rd Ave & E St, Anchorage, AK
San Diego, CA
When: Thursday, March 25 at 4:30pm PST
Where: 400 West Broadway, San Diego, CA
Washington, DC
When: Thursday, March 25 at 5pm EST
Where: Westin Washington City Center, 1400 M St NW