Indianapolis Update

City-County Council urges area hotels to reduce outsourcing

December 1, 2009

Indianapolis, IN – On Monday, November 30th, the full Indianapolis City-County Council voted overwhelmingly (23-4) in favor of a special resolution, discouraging the practice of outsourcing jobs in area hotels. The resolution comes after months of controversy surrounding the outsourcing of jobs in downtown Indianapolis hotels, where long-term and even award-winning employees have been replaced by subcontracted labor.

Indiana taxpayers have pumped nearly $1 billion into the downtown Indianapolis hospitality industry over the last decade, but jobs in this industry are getting worse, especially as big hotel corporations rely more and more on cheap, outsourced labor to staff their properties. This year, community leaders have criticized the Westin for firing William Selm, a doorman who had been the Westin Employee of the Year (1998) and a recipient of the Indianapolis ROSE Award (2003) for customer service excellence. Despite his exemplary record, Mr. Selm was forced to transfer to another hotel through an outsourcing agency, where his pay dropped from $8.40 to $3.20 an hour. Now, more than 50% of non-supervisory staff at the Westin are employed by an outside subcontractor. Hotel workers often lose seniority, take cuts in pay, and receive few or no benefits when working for a subcontracting agency.

Other area hotels, like the Hyatt Regency and the Marriott downtown, rely heavily on subcontracted labor. The Hyatt Regency Indianapolis contracts with Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS), which is facing lawsuits in Florida, Georgia, and Pennsylvania for alleged wage violations. Hyatt Hotels and HSS also made headlines in recent weeks after 3 Boston-area Hyatts fired 100 housekeepers who trained their replacements from the outsourcing agency HSS.

Now city leaders have taken a stand for good jobs. The resolution reads, "The Indianapolis City-County Council recognizes that the practice of outsourcing jobs is not providing its residents with the employment opportunities they deserve and calls upon the hospitality industry to reduce the negative impact of such outsourcing on the community."

This piece of bipartisan legislation was introduced in June 2009 by City-Councilors Lincoln Plowman (Republican Majority Leader) and Joanne Sanders (Democratic Minority Leader). The Rules & Public Policy Committee voted unanimously to recommend the passage of this special resolution on November 17, 2009, which was voted on and approved today. Senator Greg Taylor testified at the committee meeting, urging the council to support this special resolution because many of these hotels have received public money.

 

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