“It’s the American dream.... 39 percent of the workers.... were illegal immigrants’’
"Hotel staffing company faced wage complaints" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | September 26, 2009
The toilets are still being scrubbed and the sheets changed at the three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area, but the workers performing these tasks are making half as much money to maintain up to twice as many rooms as the staff housekeepers the hotel fired.
So?
“If you stayed at the Hyatt last night and you bumped into the housekeeper, would you notice a difference?’’
Probably not.
"illegal immigrants, who mow the lawns, trim the hedges, clean the swimming pools, park the cars, serve the hors d'oeuvres, tidy up the mansions, and do many of the other things that make life so enjoyable for the rich."
Related: The Poor Migrant Worker
Harvard's Untouchables
Why the outrage, Globe?
The dismissal of 98 Boston area housekeepers on Aug. 31 ignited public outcry and prompted boycotts against Hyatt, which said yesterday that it would offer the fired housekeepers jobs through a staffing agency or worker retraining options. It also thrust into the spotlight the Atlanta firm that the Hyatt hired to replace the housekeepers, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, a company that has faced several complaints of wage violations in recent years.
Hospitality Staffing Solutions has faced lawsuits in Florida, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, including a 2009 class-action suit on behalf of more than 100 janitors and housekeepers at two Pittsburgh Hyatts. And Audrey Richardson, a lawyer with Greater Boston Legal Services, said there are six wage-related complaints against the company pending with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, which doesn’t comment on open cases....
According to a new study, two-thirds of more than 4,000 low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week.
And 39 percent of the workers in the study, which was financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes, and Russell Sage foundations, were illegal immigrants....
************************
President Rick Holliday addressed the complaints against the company, which has about 4,800 employees in 450 hotels around the country, saying that “administrative mistakes’’ might have been made, but the firm treats workers with dignity and respect....
Holliday said all Hospitality Staffing Solutions workers are legally authorized to work. But three Boston-area workers told the Globe on Monday that they were undocumented to work in the United States. Six current and former workers interviewed also said they were never offered benefits, although Holliday said the company provides Aetna health insurance....
Holliday said room quotas have gone up as hotels adopt green programs, which may stipulate that the sheets are not automatically changed if a guest stays more than one night.
And YOU THOUGHT the fart-misters were harmless.
He said it should take housekeepers only 10 or 15 minutes to clean these “stay-over’’ rooms, while workers are typically allowed 30 minutes to clean other rooms. “A lot of what we’re proud of is that we’ve given a lot of people a start,’’ said Holliday, adding that the firm promotes entry-level workers. “It’s the American dream.’’
Even if they are here illegally!
Oh, right, that's why they accept $8/hour and no benefits.
********************
The Hyatt housekeepers made about $15 an hour and had benefits, including a 401(k) plan. The staff workers also had to clean 16 to 18 rooms daily, while Hospitality Staffing Solutions employees interviewed said they sometimes are required to clean nearly double that. Hyatt declined to comment for this story....
Other cleaning firms, such as J&R Cleaning Services of Cambridge and Clean Tech Professional Cleaning Services of Hanover, have faced wage-related complaints, and Richardson said there are nine such complaints pending against Illinois-based Capital Cleaning, and others that were resolved. There are so many accusations of wage violations that the attorney general’s office is investigating the entire cleaning industry. “The workers that have come forward are just the tip of the iceberg,’’ said Richardson, who added that cleaning firms are often repeat violators....
Sonia Lopez, a 32-year-old former Hospitality Staffing Solutions worker, started cleaning 16 rooms a day for $8 an hour at the Cambridge Hyatt in March. A week after the Hyatt housekeepers were fired, she said, she was told to clean 25 rooms a day, adding at least an hour and a half to her workday without additional pay.
Before long, Lopez’s back was bothering her. On Sept. 13, after Lopez told her supervisor she couldn’t clean her last four rooms, she said, she was fired on the spot. “They think that we’re slaves,’’ said Lopez, who spoke in Spanish through a translator....
--more--"
"Hyatt offers 98 cleaners new jobs; Hotel firm bows to outcry over firings" by Katie Johnston Chase and Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | September 26, 2009
I want mine, too, but it is not coming back.
--more--"
Also see:
Where Hollywood Stays When in Massachusetts
Hyatt Housekeepers Raise Hell
Hyatt Helps Unemployed Housekeepers
