Hyatt hotel workers train their H-2B replacements

Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009 2:26 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2056 -- 10/20/2009 >>>>>

The story of Americans being forced to train their foreign H-1B/L-1
replacements is very common in computer/IT and engineering. It's a sad and
humiliating end to the careers of many tech workers who are blackmailed and/or
pressured to train a foreign worker to do their job. To add insult to injury
politicians continue to insist Americans don't have the skills to compete.

The situation unfolding at a Hyatt hotel in Boston is a slightly different
situation because it involves the H-2B visa. Until now there was an assumption
that the forced training wouldn't happen with H-2B because the jobs are
typically lower skilled and lower paying, and therefore less of a target for
this type of corporate cannibalism. This story is proof positive that there is
a race to the bottom to replace Americans who work as housekeepers at hotels
for $15 an hour.

Hyatt Boston isn't hiring their own H-2Bs. They are using a bodyshop called
Hospitality Staffing Solutions to import the laborers. There isn't much
information on HSS on their website:

http://www.hssstaffing.com/

One thing to note is that HSS is designated as a woman owned minority
business. Because of affirmative action regulations minority contractors have
a huge advantage over non-minority companies that bid for outsourcing
contracts. Lately I have seen a trend of women owned minority businesses
moving into the H-1B and H-2B body trade in professions such as teaching,
construction, and now housekeeping.

Ironically Hyatt is using H-2B workers to replace Americans who are mostly
minority. No argument can be made that Hyatt is diversifying their workforce
by doing this, although they might be able to argue that they will be able to
get more workers who are bi-lingual. Click on the links to the articles below
to see pictures of the unemployed Americans to see for yourself who is losing
their jobs (hint -- they are African Americans and whites!). The WBTZ article
has a video that is definitely worth watching.

Hyatt labor condition applications (LCA) for H-2Bs can be viewed at the DOL
website. You must download the files and then import them into a program like
Excel to view the data. Go here:

http://www.flcdatacenter.com/CaseH2B.aspx

Here are a few data points for Hyatt. The economic incentive for them to
replace their American employees is the money and benefits they save from
dumping $15 an hour American employees with benefits for $7 and hour workers
with no benefits.

HYATT REGENCY JACKSONVILLE Cleaner, Housekeeping $6.95
HYATT REGENCY LA JOLLA Cleaner, Housekeeping $7.65
HYATT REGENCY MIAMI ROOFER $8.36

There is no data for Hospitality Staffing Solutions. This is probably because
HSS didn't get into the H-2B business until recently. Once again the DOL is
late on posting current data -- this time they are behind by more than a year
because their most recent data is for 2008 (we are now on the 2010 fiscal
year). HSS probably won't show up until 2010 data is posted.

Give credit to the housekeepers and other workers at Hyatt -- they aren't
taking Hyatt's abuse lying down. Last week they had a protest outside of the
Hyatt. The union that organized the protest has a website here:

http://www.bostonhotelunion.org/aboutus.html

REFERENCES:

http://wbztv.com/local/hyatt.housekeeping.layoffs.2.1190030.html
Workers Laid Off By Hyatt Rally In Boston

http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2009/09/17/housekeepers_lose_hyatt_jobs_to_outsourcing/
A hard ending for housekeepers

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/09/rally_for_fired.html
Fired Hyatt workers, supporters rally

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://wbztv.com/local/hyatt.housekeeping.layoffs.2.1190030.html

Sep 17, 2009 10:18 pm US/Eastern

Workers Laid Off By Hyatt Rally In Boston Supporters of fired Hyatt hotel
workers are picketing the Hyatt Regency Boston near Downtown Crossing right
now.

Unionized organizers say the reason for the rally is that 130 women who are
non-union housekeepers were fired without warning after being required to
train new workers who have now replaced them.

Conversation Nation: Train Your Replacements, Then Get Out

"People just started crying. I was like 'oh my God,' said Lucine Williams,
fighting back tears.

The veteran housekeeper told us how after nearly 22 years at the Hyatt Regency
Boston she and her co-workers lost their jobs August 31st.

"Everybody is in disbelief. People still crying, wanting to understand what's
going on. After working here so long, how can you treat people like that, just
get up and say I no longer need you anymore...They're human beings. They're
human beings."

The union now advocating for them says the housekeepers fired from the Hyatt
Regency Cambridge and the Hyatt Harborside at Logan Airport, as well as the
Hyatt in Boston, are being replaced by employees of Hospitality Staffing
Solutions, a Marietta Georgia company, at roughly half their wages and without
benefits the fired workers had, such as health, dental and 401k.

"In the history of Boston hotels, this has never happened and we're not going
to let it happen here," said Janice Loux, President of Unite Here Local 26.

Hyatt Hotels released a statement Thursday night saying the company had to
make very difficult decisions due to the unprecedented economic client.

"Unfortunately, these decisions have affected our associates at Boston-area
properties. A restructuring of our housekeeping services included staff
reductions that we deeply regret."

The company also said it's providing those who were laid off with assistance,
including severance and outplacement counseling.

While a hospitality industry research group has said this is one of the worst
years on record for hotels, the recession has also been daunting for its
workers such as Lucine Williams, a single mother who has a 13-year-old son
with asthma.

She says, after she was fired, she picked up extra medication for him before
her insurance runs out.

"I understand health care is going up. Every year, it's killing
everybody...What happened to America? It's a beautiful country and people
treat you like that, to save a buck?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2009/09/17/housekeepers_lose_hyatt_jobs_to_outsourcing/

A hard ending for housekeepers
Uncommon outsourcing eliminates 100 Hyatt jobs

By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | September 17, 2009

When the housekeepers at the three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area were asked
to train some new workers, they said they were told the trainees would be
filling in during vacations.

On Aug. 31, staffers learned the full story: None of them would be making the
beds and cleaning the showers any longer. All of them were losing their jobs.
The trainees, it turns out, were employees of a Georgia company, Hospitality
Staffing Solutions, who were replacing them that day.

The move to outsource the jobs of about 100 housekeeping employees at the
Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside at Logan
International Airport is unusual in the hospitality industry, which counts on
the housekeeping staff to help make sure hotel guests are comfortable.

"It s unbelievable, said Lucine Williams, 41, who has worked at the Hyatt
Regency Boston for nearly 22 years and was making $15.32 an hour plus health,
dental, and 401(k) benefits when she lost her job. "I don t know how they can
treat people like that.

After hearing the news at meetings last month, employees cried and screamed,
said Drupattie Jungra, 55, who had worked at the Cambridge Hyatt for more than
21 years and made $15.69 an hour, plus benefits.

"Where am I going to go look for a job? said Jungra, a widow who regularly
sends money to her family in Guyana and whose four grown sons live with her.

Hyatt officials confirmed the layoffs at the three hotels, but declined to say
whether the chain was considering similar moves in other locations across the
country. "As part of an ongoing drive to address challenging economic
conditions, the Hyatt hotels of Boston have restructured their housekeeping
services, according to a statement from the hotel.
"Regrettably, the restructuring included staff reductions.

Like many hotels in the Boston area, the Hyatt has struggled this year, as a
recession has caused people to cut down on their travel plans. Boston area
hotels experienced a 21 percent drop in revenue per available room in June
compared to the year before, according to PKF Hospitality Research, and 10
percent in July. Chicago-based Hyatt reported revenue fell 18 percent to $1.6
billion in the first half of this year.

Other hotels have taken a different approach to riding out the recession.
Earlier this year the Liberty Hotel ended its contract with the company that
provided its security and night janitorial service and replaced them with
hotel workers from other departments who might have otherwise been laid off.
"We would not [outsource housekeepers] because we want to tightly control the
guest experience here and the cleanliness, said managing director Jim
Treadway.

Representatives from the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains said they have not
outsourced their housekeepers and have no plans to do so.

Paul Sacco, the president of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, said he
isn t aware of any other hotels that have outsourced their cleaning staffs but
wasn t surprised by the move. "In these economic times, it just calls for
unusual initiatives that maybe we wouldn t have looked at before, he said.

But Sacco pointed out that outsourcing has been going on for years at
companies around the country and that not only would the move save the Hyatt
money, it wouldn t affect the hotel guests. "If you stayed at the Hyatt last
night and you bumped into the housekeeper, would you notice a difference?

Janice Loux, the president of Unite Here Local 26, a union that represents
local hotel workers, called the outsourcing a "race to the bottom. The Hyatt
housekeepers were not part of the union but reached out to Local 26, which is
organizing a picket and rally in support of the housekeepers today at 5 p.m.
at the downtown Hyatt.

"Never ever in all my years have I seen a wholesale contracting out of an
entire department, she said.

Loux said the new workers will make $8 an hour and receive no benefits, based
on information from a Hospitality Staffing Solutions employee.
Staffing firm president Rick Holliday sent out an e-mail stating his employees
made competitive wages but didn t answer further questions.

The dismissed workers received two weeks of pay when they were let go, plus
one week of pay for every year they worked at the Hyatt up to five or 10
years, depending on the hotel. According to the housekeepers, two Hyatt
employees from each hotel were asked to continue working, though it was
unclear if they would be employed by the Hyatt or by the staffing firm.

Williams, a single mother of a 13-year-old with asthma, stocked up on
medication before her insurance runs out at the end of the month. Last week,
the former Hyatt Regency Boston housekeeper also had to cancel an airline
ticket she d bought the day before she was laid off to go see her father in
Barbados. She hasn t seen him since 2005, and isn t sure when she ll see him
again.

Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at johnstonchase@globe.com.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/09/rally_for_fired.html

Fired Hyatt workers, supporters rally
September 17, 2009 04:27 PM E-Mail| Comments (43)| Text size +

By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff
A group of about 300 fired Hyatt hotel housekeepers and their supporters
rallied at the Hyatt Regency Boston this afternoon starting at 5 p.m. for
about 2 hours to protest the company's outsourcing of 100 jobs to an out-of-
state staffing firm. US representatives Michael Capuano and state Senator
Anthony Galluccio and Boston City Councilor Maureen Feeney showed up for the
rally, but Stephen Lynch, who was also expected to attend, did not come to the
protest.

The Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel
fired their entire housekeeping staffs Aug. 31 replacing them with workers
from Hospitality Staffing Solutions. The Hospitality Staffing Solutions
workers had been trained by the Hyatt employees, who said they were told the
trainees would be filling in during vacations.

Janice Loux, president of Unite Here Local 26, which organized the rally for
the housekeepers -- who did not belong to the union -- said she has been
overwhelmed by the response. "I feel change coming," Loux said.

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