Hotel Workers Fight Cutbacks with Civil Disobedience

September 28, 2009. From the AFL-CIO Now Blog

Nearly 300 UNITE HERE members protesting demands from major hotels in Chicago and San Francisco for cutbacks, and the firing of 100 housekeepers in Boston, were arrested in peaceful civil disobedience demonstrations in recent days.

Contracts covering some 7,500 workers at 37 hotels in Chicago and 9,000 at 32 San Francisco hotels expired in August. Talks are continuing with the largest employers in each city, including Hyatt Hotels Corp., Blackstone Group and Starwood Hotels and Resorts, all of which operate properties under several different banners.

In San Francisco, some 1,700 UNITE HERE members from the hotels and other employers took part in the demonstrations and 92 were arrested, while 700 union members participated in the Chicago protest that resulted in 200 arrests. (See the video, and thanks to Richard Negri at Union Review for passing along the video.)

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Across North America, hotel workers are joining together to lift one another above the poverty line.



Worker stories and photos 

Jackie White, Indianapolis
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