Chicago Update

Protests across North America cloud Hyatt's first shareholders meeting

Protesters in Honolulu, Hawaii.

June 10, 2010

Just six months after becoming a publicly traded company, Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) is already facing sharp criticism at home in Chicago and across North America. On the occasion of Hyatt's first annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday in Chicago, workers and community allies held simultaneous demonstrations protesting Hyatt in Chicago, Vancouver, Honolulu, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Protesters are outraged at how the company is trying to make the recession permanent for workers despite significantly improving industry conditions and Hyatt's rising share values. Together, they called on Hyatt's majority owners, the Pritzkers, to not lock workers into the recession as the company rebounds. Last November, in one day the Pritzkers cashed out over $900 million as part of Hyatt's Initial Public Offering.

The demonstrations signal a deepening crisis for Hyatt among its core constituencies, including Hyatt workers, religious organizations across the country, and gay rights activists, who fault Hyatt for courting LGBT customers while refusing to sever ties with Doug Manchester—a Hyatt owner and key funder of the initiative to ban gay marriage in California.

On Tuesday, June 8, four hundred hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco went on strike, and protests in Chicago come just days after hundreds of workers at the Hyatt Regency Chicago walked off the job in protest of worsening working conditions at Chicago's largest downtown hotel. Hyatt also sparked a national controversy in 2009, when in Boston, Hyatt fired all of its housekeepers (approximately 100 of them), replacing them with subcontracted workers being paid minimum wage.

In San Francisco, hundreds of workers on strike picketed, while hundreds of workers in Honolulu, Vancouver, and Los Angeles held major demonstrations in front of Hyatt properties in each city. In Chicago, a delegation of nearly 100 Chicago-area religious leaders went to confront Hyatt's top decision makers at the shareholders meeting. Inside the meeting, a former Hyatt housekeeper from Boston was able to gain entrance to the meeting as a shareholder proxy and appealed to Hyatt's owners and top executives directly.

"For 21 years, I gave my body—everything I have—to that hotel, and Hyatt kicked us to the curb," said Lucine Wiliams, who worked at the Hyatt Regency Boston for 21 years, before Hyatt fired her on August 31, 2009. "You profess to be such a great company, but look at how you treat your workers," she said.

Nationwide, the hotel industry is rebounding faster and stronger than expected, with a hearty rebound projected in 2011 and 2012. In the six months following Hyatt's November initial public offering Hyatt's shares were up over 65% (IPO on 11/5/09 at $25; 5/5/10 traded at $41.86). Despite these trends showing a strong recovery for the hotel industry, hotels are still squeezing workers and cutting staff. While this marks a trend involving several major hotel companies, Hyatt is the starkest example.

View our slideshow of events from around the country.

 

Read past updates:	See updates from other cities: Select a Location Anchorage Boston Chicago Honolulu Indianapolis Long Beach Los Angeles Monterey Minneapolis Northern Virginia Pittsburgh Providence San Antonio San Diego San Francisco Toronto Vancouver Washington DC
Toronto's Royal York Hotel Workers Vote to Strike Toronto's Local 75 Members March to the Hyatt Regency Workers Strike Hyatt Regency Century Plaza as contract negotiations stall Hyatt workers strike at Hyatt O'Hare Hyatt Regency Waikiki employees strike for a day over new contract Read All