Hyatt hotel relents, immigration debate fades
Hyatt hotel relents, immigration debate fades
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 1:49 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2058 -- 9/28/2009 >>>>>
The Hyatt hotel in Boston continues to get national media attention because
the housekeepers and other hotel workers that lost their jobs to cheap foreign
labor are raising a big stink. This is an example of the squeaky wheel getting
the oil. After a huge public outcry the Hyatt relented by announcing that they
will rehire 98 housekeepers at their original salary.
A youtube video titled "Civil Disobedience: Sit Down at Park Hyatt Chicago"
shows a boisterous protest that occurred over the weekend in Chicago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka9YjarxcQ4
One thing I noticed that is amusing and dismaying at the same time is that the
protestors were constantly chanting "Sm,se puede". Talk about clueless! That
innocent sounding chant with the literal translation of "yes, we can" is
actually the battle cry of the open borders and amnesty crowds as well as
leftist supporters of Obama. The chant as used in immigration protests is a
treasonous call to separatism that is closer in meaning to: "yes, we can
overcome the white people in the U.S. to reclaim our land!" So, the Hyatt
protestors completely missed the irony of their own actions.
Amidst all the controversy, have we learned anything about who the foreigners
were that were contracted by Hospitality Staffing Solutions
(HSS) to work at the Hyatt?
In the newsletter last week, I assumed that HSS was using the H-2B visa
because it seemed unlikely that HSS and/or Hyatt would use illegal aliens to
replace Americans in such a blatant and high profile manner. The hotel jobs
that were lost are often filled by H-2B so it seemed like the natural choice.
Now, however, there is circumstantial evidence that at least some of the cheap
laborers were illegal aliens. A recent Boston Globe article has a bizarre
quote from the HSS president that is a real head scratcher:
Holliday said all Hospitality Staffing Solutions workers are legally
authorized to work. But three Boston-area workers told the Globe on
Monday that they were undocumented to work in the United States.
Both HSS and the Hyatt claim to use E-verify to validate the legal status of
their employees, so the contractors had to have some kind of documents, like
for instance fraudulent social security and identity cards. Calling them
"undocumented" seems to be a nonsensical and politically correct way of saying
that several of them are illegal aliens. This entire episode calls into
question the claim that E-verify is 99.5% accurate, and that alone should
spark an investigation!
There were a lot of Hyatt workers who lost their jobs but so far it's not at
all clear what types of visas were used for the other 95 workers at the Hyatt.
The mix of illegal aliens to legal H-2B visa holders is not known at this
time. We may never find out because the immigration angle of this story is
being swept under the rug by the mainstream media. Except for the lame
description of "undocumented" in the Boston Globe the recent news articles on
the Hyatt incident completely avoid even mentioning that the replacement
workers were immigrants.
Even Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke out against the Hyatt and
called for a boycott, but he dodged the issue of immigration like it was the
black plague or the swine flu. Of course that shouldn't come as a surprise
from a governor that supports in-state tuition and drivers licenses for
illegal aliens.
The Hyatt story should warrant an investigation by the DHS and the DOL, but
now that the workers have been placated the controversy might fade away. It
might also be worth investigating how many of the 98 Hyatt workers that were
replaced were here legally. This could actually be a story of low paid illegal
aliens who were hired to replace higher paid illegals!
In conclusion it's a positive sign that so many people became outraged when
the Hyatt used cheap foreign labor to replace more expensive workers, however
I'm a little miffed because for years engineers, scientists, and computer
programmers have been forced to train their H-1B and L-1 replacements. There
was very little public outrage even though the incidents have been very well
documented. So, why does the public and the media seem to care so much about
$15 an hour housekeeping jobs while at the same time they don't bat an eye
when corporations give away high-tech jobs that pay two to ten times as much?
REFERENCES:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/09/26/hotel_staffing_company_faced_wage_complaints/
Hotel staffing company faced wage complaints
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/09/hyatt_protests.html
Hyatt protests spread to Chicago; 200 arrested
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/25/hyatt_says_fired_boston_workers_offered_new_jobs/
Hyatt says fired Boston workers offered new jobs
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSMA7HzuHChuBi6Rxx3L3wmvapXgD9ATE3CG1
Mass. governor to state workers: Shut out Hyatt
http://multimedia.wbz.com/m/video/26455391/hyatt-accused-of-lying-to-laid-off-housekeepers.htm
video: Hyatt Accused Of Lying To Laid Off Housekeepers
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/09/26/hotel_staffing_company_faced_wage_complaints/
Hotel staffing company faced wage complaints
By Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | September 26, 2009
The toilets are still being scrubbed and the sheets changed at the three Hyatt
hotels in the Boston area, but the workers performing these tasks are making
half as much money to maintain up to twice as many rooms as the staff
housekeepers the hotel fired.
The dismissal of 98 Boston area housekeepers on Aug. 31 ignited public outcry
and prompted boycotts against Hyatt, which said yesterday that it would offer
the fired housekeepers jobs through a staffing agency or worker retraining
options. It also thrust into the spotlight the Atlanta firm that the Hyatt
hired to replace the housekeepers, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, a company
that has faced several complaints of wage violations in recent years.
Hospitality Staffing Solutions has faced lawsuits in Florida, Georgia, and
Pennsylvania, including a 2009 class-action suit on behalf of more than 100
janitors and housekeepers at two Pittsburgh Hyatts. And Audrey Richardson, a
lawyer with Greater Boston Legal Services, said there are six wage-related
complaints against the company pending with the Massachusetts attorney
general s office, which doesn t comment on open cases.
President Rick Holliday addressed the complaints against the company, which
has about 4,800 employees in 450 hotels around the country, saying that
"administrative mistakes might have been made, but the firm treats workers
with dignity and respect.
"You don t run a business for 18 years and have the amount of employees that
we have in the cities we have and not make a mistake, said Holliday, who
would only say he had "quite a few employees in the Boston area.
Sonia Lopez, a 32-year-old former Hospitality Staffing Solutions worker,
started cleaning 16 rooms a day for $8 an hour at the Cambridge Hyatt in
March. A week after the Hyatt housekeepers were fired, she said, she was told
to clean 25 rooms a day, adding at least an hour and a half to her workday
without additional pay.
Before long, Lopez s back was bothering her. On Sept. 13, after Lopez told her
supervisor she couldn t clean her last four rooms, she said, she was fired on
the spot.
"They think that we re slaves, said Lopez, who spoke in Spanish through a
translator. She is one of the six former Hospitality Staffing Solutions
workers who have filed complaints with the Massachusetts attorney general s
office.
Other cleaning firms, such as J&R Cleaning Services of Cambridge and Clean
Tech Professional Cleaning Services of Hanover, have faced wage-related
complaints, and Richardson said there are nine such complaints pending against
Illinois-based Capital Cleaning, and others that were resolved.
There are so many accusations of wage violations that the attorney general s
office is investigating the entire cleaning industry.
"The workers that have come forward are just the tip of the iceberg, said
Richardson, who added that cleaning firms are often repeat violators.
According to a new study, two-thirds of more than 4,000 low-wage workers in
Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York experienced at least one pay-related
violation in the previous work week.
And 39 percent of the workers in the study, which was financed by the Ford,
Joyce, Haynes, and Russell Sage foundations, were illegal immigrants.
Holliday said all Hospitality Staffing Solutions workers are legally
authorized to work. But three Boston-area workers told the Globe on Monday
that they were undocumented to work in the United States.
Six current and former workers interviewed also said they were never offered
benefits, although Holliday said the company provides Aetna health insurance.
The Hyatt housekeepers made about $15 an hour and had benefits, including a
401(k) plan. The staff workers also had to clean 16 to 18 rooms daily, while
Hospitality Staffing Solutions employees interviewed said they sometimes are
required to clean nearly double that.
Hyatt declined to comment for this story.
Holliday said room quotas have gone up as hotels adopt green programs, which
may stipulate that the sheets are not automatically changed if a guest stays
more than one night.
He said it should take housekeepers only 10 or 15 minutes to clean these
"stay-over rooms, while workers are typically allowed 30 minutes to clean
other rooms.
"A lot of what we re proud of is that we ve given a lot of people a start,
said Holliday, adding that the firm promotes entry-level workers. "It s the
American dream.
Maria Cramer, Todd Wallack, and Erin Ailworth of the Globe staff contributed
to this report. Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at
johnstonchase@globe.com.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/09/hyatt_protests.html
Hyatt protests spread to Chicago; 200 arrested
September 25, 2009 09:42 AM E-mail| Comments (106)| Text size +
About 200 union and hospitality workers were arrested yesterday afternoon in
Chicago as they demonstrated their support for 98 workers who lost their jobs
in Boston-area Hyatt Hotels, the Chicago Tribune reported in a story.
According to the Tribune, about 900 members of Unite Here Local 1, the union
that represents hospitality workers in and around Chicago, participated in the
demonstration; those arrested sat in the middle of a street as an act of civil
disobedience.
Related
Fallout from firings
Fallout from firings
* 09/25/09 A PR mess for Hyatt
* Editorial Patrick right to chide Hyatt, wrong to threaten
* Previous coverage of the firings
Also yesterday, a fired housekeeper from the Hyatt Harborside Hotel in Boston
appealed to Hyatt Hotels director Penny Pritzker yesterday at the Sheraton
Chicago Hotel and Towers to reverse Hyatt s termination of nearly 100
housekeepers at three Boston-area Hyatt hotels, Unite Here Local
1 said.
In a press release, Unite Here Local 1 identified the housekeeper as Angela
Norena.
"Norena was joined by union housekeepers in a delegation of 20 women from a
number of Chicago hotels in calling on Pritzker to rehire the Boston group,"
the union said in its release. "Pritzker refused to listen to Norena s
concerns."
The Chicago protest stemmed from the events of Aug. 31, when the three Boston
area Hyatt hotels - Hyatt Harborside, Hyatt Regency Boston, and Hyatt Regency
Cambridge -- fired its 98 staff housekeepers, some of whom had been on staff
for more than 20 years and made more than $15 an hour; they were replaced with
$8-an-hour subcontracted workers from an Atlanta cleaning firm.
Some of the staff housekeepers said they had been asked to train these
outsourced employees over the past few years and were assured the new workers
would not be replacing them. The cleaning company and the Hyatt deny these
claims.
The Hyatt's move has sparked a public outcry against the hotel company, with
businesses canceling conventions at the Boston Hyatts and Governor Deval L.
Patrick calling for state employees to boycott the hotels unless the company
rehires the staff housekeepers.
The Boston Taxi Drivers Association has also threatened to boycott the Hyatt
and refuse service to the chain s Boston locations unless the housekeepers are
rehired.
Amid the public pressure, the Hyatt agreed to extend the health benefits of
the fired workers and to help each one find a new job but so far has been
unwilling to reverse its decision, which it says it made due to challenging
economic conditions.
To read previous Globe coverage about the Hyatt, please click here. (Globe
Staff)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/25/hyatt_says_fired_boston_workers_offered_new_jobs/
Hyatt says fired Boston workers offered new jobs
September 25, 2009
BOSTON --Hyatt Hotel Corp., under pressure after dismissing nearly 100
housekeepers from its three Boston hotels, promised Friday that the workers
would be offered new full-time jobs elsewhere in the area.
Gov. Deval Patrick had urged state employees to stop doing business with Hyatt
unless the housekeepers were rehired. A union representing about 1,700 Boston
taxi drivers also threatened to boycott the hotels.
In a statement, Hyatt said the housekeepers would be offered jobs not with
Hyatt but with a Boston affiliate of United Service Companies, a staffing
agency. The workers would be guaranteed the pay that they received at Hyatt
through the end of 2010, with Hyatt extending health care coverage through
March, after which they could obtain coverage through their new employer.
"We are committed to supporting all of our associates, especially when they
are negatively affected by business decisions made necessary by the most
difficult economic environment in decades," said Phil Stamm, general manager
of Hyatt Regency Boston.
Some of the 98 housekeepers and their supporters have claimed the workers were
ordered to train their lower-paid replacements after being told they were only
vacation fill-ins.
The Hyatt's offer of new jobs did not satisfy the local hotel workers union,
which called it a "smokescreen" to make it appear the company was doing the
right thing.
"These women have made it clear that they want to be returned to the jobs they
have held for years, and Hyatt's PR scheme does not diminish their
determination" said Janice Loux, president of Unite Here, Local 26, in a
statement.
Kyle Sullivan, a spokesman for Patrick, said the governor was reviewing the
proposal from Hyatt to ensure it would be fair to the housekeepers, who were
"understandably hesitant" to trust an offer that does not restore their old
jobs.
Hyatt said it hoped the proposal would renew the community's faith in the
company.
"Contrary to the way our actions have been characterized by many, we did
attempt to implement this staffing change in a respectful manner and many of
the assertions that have been made are false," said Stamm.
"We do, however, recognize and regret that we did not handle all parts of this
transition in a way that reflects our organization's values," he said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSMA7HzuHChuBi6Rxx3L3wmvapXgD9ATE3CG1
Mass. governor to state workers: Shut out Hyatt
By STEVE LeBLANC (AP) 5 days ago
BOSTON Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Wednesday he has instructed
state employees to stop doing business with Hyatt hotels until it rehires 100
housekeepers it fired last month.
Hyatt Hotel Corp., citing declining revenues, laid off the Boston-area
housekeepers and replaced them with lower-paid workers from a Georgia company.
In a letter to Hyatt, Patrick criticized the layoffs, citing reports that
fired workers trained their replacements after being told they were vacation
fill-ins.
He urged Hyatt to work with staffers, rather than "tossing them out
unceremoniously."
Hyatt, in a statement, said that like many other businesses it has been forced
to make difficult staffing decisions. The company said it offered the laid-off
workers severance, counseling, retraining and health coverage to year's end.
Patrick met with about 30 of the workers at a union hall Wednesday night.
"I know these are tough economic times but there is a right way and a wrong
way to do things and this was wrong," the governor said following the private
meeting.
Serandou Kamara, 32, said she had worked five years at the hotel cleaning
rooms and told Patrick how upset she was at the way she was let go.
"We are human beings. What they did to us was wrong," said Kamara, who has
three children and is expecting a fourth.
Patrick acknowledged his own administration has been forced to cut jobs due to
a budget shortfall, but said he never misled state workers or asked them to
train their replacements.
In its statement, Hyatt said the governor's threatened boycott of the hotel
would endanger the livelihoods of 600 other employees who live and work in
Massachusetts.
"We do not understand why the Governor is putting more Massachusetts jobs at
risk instead of working with us to find jobs for employees affected by the
realities of these unprecedented economic challenges," the company said.
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