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Sunday, Jul 06, 2008
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SeaTac hotel workers call for boycott, Pride At Work urges support |
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| SeaTac hotel workers call for boycott, Pride At Work urges support | ||
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by Mike Andrew -
Special to the SGN Pride At Work urges the LGBT community and all our friends and allies to boycott the SeaTac Hilton Hotel and the SeaTac Doubletree Hotel, effective immediately. We are taking this step in support of the 550 workers at these hotels, represented by UNITE HERE Local 8, who have been working without a contract since July 2007. On February 6, the SeaTac hotel workers voted to authorize a boycott if necessary by a 98% majority. On February 20, their organizing committee voted unanimously to boycott the hotels. The Martin Luther King County Labor Council, which represents 150 local labor organizations, also voted unanimously to place these hotels on their "Do Not Patronize" list. The boycott includes Hilton hotels in Vancouver and Portland. While the boycott tactic represents a sacrifice on the part of hotel and restaurant workers, since a loss of business usually means a loss of both scheduled hours and tips, the workers' committee hopes an aggressive boycott will force their employer to the bargaining table. Local Hilton officials have so far shown little interest in bargaining with their employees. The Hilton Corporation has declined to have any contact whatsoever with the union for the last 3 ½ weeks, and no face-to-face negotiations have taken place since December 2007. We urge community organizations who have events scheduled at the affected hotels, or who might wish to schedule events at a union hotel, to contact INMEX (Informed Meetings Exchange), a non-profit service that helps book socially responsible hotel accommodations. INMEX can be found at www.inmex.org. UNITE HERE Local 8 can also assist in choosing hotels, restaurants, and conference facilities (www.herelocal8.org). In 2007, UNITE HERE Local 8 won landmark language adding explicit protections for Transgender workers in their contract with the Seattle Westin Hotel. Similar language is proposed in the stalled negotiations with the SeaTac hotels. While many union contracts include language barring employers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, relatively few private sector contracts offer explicit protection for gender identity and expression. Worker demands also include job security, work load and health care issues. UNITE HERE's "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign aims to raise wages to a middle class level, improve working conditions, and add substantial worker protections in a traditionally low-wage and injury-prone industry. The hospitality industry is also the country's fastest-growing industry, and the source of substantial income for the multi-national corporations which dominate it. The Martin Luther King County chapter of Pride At Work voted unanimously to support the "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign in May 2006, as national Pride At Work did at its National Convention that August. The hospitality and food service industry employs large concentrations of LGBT workers, and we hope that the language won by Local 8 will set an industry standard in protecting all LGBT workers from discrimination in the workplace. Obviously, Pride At Work will continue to support allies like UNITE HERE in working toward that goal. Beyond the very important contract language won by Local 8, UNITE HERE's international officers have been vocal supporters of the LGBT community. In June 2006 UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor went on record in support of marriage equality. In July of that same year, Hospitality Industry President John W Wilhelm stated, "Our partnership with the LGBT community has great value and I urge all of our members, regardless of sexual orientation, to help us strengthen and grow that partnership." Pride At Work is the LGBT constituency organization of the AFL-CIO. Our members come from both AFL-CIO and Change To Win unions, as well as straight and non-union allies. For more information about Pride At Work, visit www.prideatwork.org. The Martin Luther King County chapter can be reached by contacting Secretary/Treasurer Mike Andrew at 206-261-8110 or msand76@hotmail.com. |
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