Update

Housekeeper Injuries Spotlighted at National Summit on Latino Worker Safety

April 15, 2010

UNITE HERE has sent 50 hotel housekeepers from across the country to Houston this week to participate in a national summit on worker safety sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. These housekeepers are participating in the conference to bring greater visibility to the high rates of injury for hotel housekeepers—in particular Latina housekeepers and housekeepers working at Hyatt Hotels. The focus of the national conference, featuring keynote speaker Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis,is workplace safety issues faced by Latino workers.

A recent landmark study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine in January 2010 found that Latina housekeepers had almost double the risk of injury of their white female counterparts doing the same job. The study also indicates that injury rates vary by employer, and among the top 5 companies studied, housekeepers at Hyatt Hotels had the highest risk of injury, with a risk of injury twice that of the company with the lowest rates.

In addition to participating in conference workshops and sharing their stories, housekeepers are calling on OSHA to identify hotels as a "high hazard" worksite and target them for inspections to make hotels a safer place to work.

Some housekeepers have had the opportunity to meet with public officials directly to discuss these issues, including Hilda Solis.

On display at the conference is our Hope Quilt, a 150-foot quilt made by housekeepers from across North America that stitches together the stories of housekeepers and the pain they endure everyday just to provide for their families. Each patch symbolizes a story of pain or injury brought upon by the heavy burden of their workloads. Just prior to the conference, Houston religious leaders and housekeepers joined hands for a blessing of the Hope Quilt.

 

 

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