"Hundreds attend rally for fired Hyatt housekeepers; Politicians urge boycott of the hotel" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | September 18, 2009
Several hundred hotel workers and their supporters turned out yesterday for a raucous rally in front of the Hyatt Regency Boston for the 100 housekeepers who were fired by the hotel chain. Politicians called for businesses to boycott the Hyatt, and workers banged on drums, rattled detergent bottles filled with rocks, and chanted “Hyatt, shame on you’’ as they marched in front of the hotel with picket signs.
Hyatt Hotels Corp. laid off the entire housekeeping staffs at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel after the morning shift had ended on Aug. 31, citing challenging economic conditions, and immediately replaced them with workers from an out-of-state staffing firm. The housekeepers had been training those very workers, from Georgia’s Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who they were told would be filling in for vacations.
US Representative Michael Capuano and state Senator Anthony Galluccio called for a boycott of Hyatt. “Maybe they should have just taken the chocolates off the pillows, I don’t know,’’ Capuano told the people assembled on Avenue de Lafayette, near Downtown Crossing. “If we let them do this, another hotel will do it, and then another business, and on and on.’’
Where have you been the last 30 years, Mike?
See: Defense Lobbyist Had Ear of Congress
Oh. So all of a sudden he cares? Because he's running for Senator, right?
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The rally was part of an outpouring of support for the housekeepers - from people offering financial assistance to others saying they will be boycotting the Hyatt - which came yesterday after The Boston Globe’s front-page story about the layoffs.
Yeah, the Globe gets action --unless it is ending wars or some such thing.
Related: The Boston Globe Just Doesn't Get It
I'm sick of the smug supremacism and arrogance, folks.
Btw, they were FIRED THREE WEEKS AGO, so it is a LITTLE LATE, don't you think? These people ARE NOT GETTING THEIR JOBS BACK, period!!!!
Ronald Hiemann, the chief executive of Seajet in Chelsea, a shipping company specializing in Asian goods, said he would no longer recommend the Hyatt to business associates in town from overseas.
“Hyatt has been crossed off the list,’’ he wrote in an e-mail. Hiemann also sent a letter to the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade, which holds a regular event at the Hyatt Regency in Newport, R.I., asking the group to book elsewhere.
“To me it’s a typical big company syndrome. You have people sitting in the ivory tower who look at their spreadsheets and they make decisions off of that. They don’t consider the human factor.’’
Same goes for the WAR MAKERS!!
Janice Loux, the president of Unite Here Local 26, a union that organized the rally for the housekeepers, who didn’t belong to the union, said she was overwhelmed by the response. “I feel change coming,’’ she said.
Pfffft! What, you hoping to get some new members?
FLASHBACK:
“If you stayed at the Hyatt last night and you bumped into the housekeeper, would you notice a difference?’’
And WHO WOULD CARE, right?
"A hard ending for housekeepers; Uncommon outsourcing eliminates 100 Hyatt jobs" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | September 17, 2009
And WAIT until you SEE HOW!!!
When the housekeepers at the three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area were asked to train some new workers, they said they were told the trainees would be filling in during vacations.
On Aug. 31, staffers learned the full story: None of them would be making the beds and cleaning the showers any longer. All of them were losing their jobs. The trainees, it turns out, were employees of a Georgia company, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who were replacing them that day.
The move to outsource the jobs of about 100 housekeeping employees at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside at Logan International Airport is unusual in the hospitality industry, which counts on the housekeeping staff to help make sure hotel guests are comfortable....
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After hearing the news at meetings last month, employees cried and screamed, said Drupattie Jungra, 55, who had worked at the Cambridge Hyatt for more than 21 years and made $15.69 an hour, plus benefits.
“Where am I going to go look for a job?’’ said Jungra, a widow who regularly sends money to her family in Guyana and whose four grown sons live with her.
“It’s unbelievable,’’ said Lucine Williams, 41, who has worked at the Hyatt Regency Boston for nearly 22 years and was making $15.32 an hour plus health, dental, and 401(k) benefits when she lost her job....
Umm, SHE DID NOT LOSE IT, it was TAKEN FROM HER!
I think you KNOW WHY, right, readers?
Williams, a single mother of a 13-year-old with asthma, stocked up on medication before her insurance runs out at the end of the month. Last week, the former Hyatt Regency Boston housekeeper also had to cancel an airline ticket she’d bought the day before she was laid off to go see her father in Barbados. She hasn’t seen him since 2005, and isn’t sure when she’ll see him again....
The dismissed workers received two weeks of pay when they were let go, plus one week of pay for every year they worked at the Hyatt up to five or 10 years, depending on the hotel. According to the housekeepers, two Hyatt employees from each hotel were asked to continue working, though it was unclear if they would be employed by the Hyatt or by the staffing firm....
Janice Loux, the president of Unite Here Local 26, a union that represents local hotel workers, said the new workers will make $8 an hour and receive no benefits, based on information from a Hospitality Staffing Solutions employee. Staffing firm president Rick Holliday sent out an e-mail stating his employees made competitive wages but didn’t answer further questions....
Loux called the outsourcing a “race to the bottom.’’ The Hyatt housekeepers were not part of the union but reached out to Local 26, which is organizing a picket and rally in support of the housekeepers today at 5 p.m. at the downtown Hyatt....
Hyatt officials confirmed the layoffs at the three hotels, but declined to say whether the chain was considering similar moves in other locations across the country. “As part of an ongoing drive to address challenging economic conditions, the Hyatt hotels of Boston have restructured their housekeeping services,’’ according to a statement from the hotel. “Regrettably, the restructuring included staff reductions.’’
Like many hotels in the Boston area, the Hyatt has struggled this year, as a recession has caused people to cut down on their travel plans. Boston area hotels experienced a 21 percent drop in revenue per available room in June compared to the year before, according to PKF Hospitality Research, and 10 percent in July. Chicago-based Hyatt reported revenue fell 18 percent to $1.6 billion in the first half of this year.
Other hotels have taken a different approach to riding out the recession. Earlier this year the Liberty Hotel ended its contract with the company that provided its security and night janitorial service and replaced them with hotel workers from other departments who might have otherwise been laid off....
And I heard they were happy as a pig in shit about it!
Paul Sacco, the president of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, said he isn’t aware of any other hotels that have outsourced their cleaning staffs but wasn’t surprised by the move. “In these economic times, it just calls for unusual initiatives that maybe we wouldn’t have looked at before,’’ he said.
But Sacco pointed out that outsourcing has been going on for years at companies around the country and that not only would the move save the Hyatt money, it wouldn’t affect the hotel guests. “If you stayed at the Hyatt last night and you bumped into the housekeeper, would you notice a difference?’’
Yeah, they are JUST a SLAVE for the elite.
