Union leaders call for boycott of Hyatt Hotels

Union leaders representing employees of Hyatt Hotels are calling for a global boycott of the hotel chain they've been in a dispute with for years.

The NFL Players Association, UNITE HERE, and the AFL-CIO were among the groups that descended upon the nation's capital Monday to demonstrate against the Chicago-based company. They called for a week of demonstrations at Hyatt Hotels in 20 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Boston. And they urged travelers not to stay at any Hyatt Hotels "to send a clear message to Hyatt that its abuse and exploitation of hotel workers will not be tolerated," according to a press release.

"The global boycott marks the largest escalation to date in an ongoing campaign for basic workers rights," the organizers said in the release. "Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst employer in the hotel industry by abusing its housekeepers and other hotel workers, replacing long-time employees with minimum wage temporary workers, and imposing dangerous and health-threatening workloads on those who remain."

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The boycott comes nearly a week after the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago found merit in Hyatt's unfair labor practice charges that UNITE HERE representatives bargained in bad faith by refusing to schedule more frequent negotiating sessions and arriving late and leaving early for those meetings. Hyatt had also complained that labor leaders had made illegal demands during contract negotiations with the company.

As a result of the board's ruling, according to the Chicago Tribune:

The locals, representing workers at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Park Hyatt Chicago, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and Hyatt Regency O'Hare, agreed to engage in bargaining sessions "with reasonable frequency" and not to engage in conduct "that frustrates reaching an agreement."

As well, it agreed to drop proposed contract language on strikes and work stoppages that the NLRB regional director found to be illegal.

According to the Tribune, one of the sticking points has been how the unions can recruit members. The paper quoted Mark Hoplamazian, president and chief executive of Hyatt, as saying that the union wants to recruit members in non-union markets using so-called card check method, in which organizers gather signatures from workers. Hyatt, meanwhile, prefers secret ballot elections.

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Hyatt says the union is refusing to allow employees to vote on the same wage and benefits proposals that unions at Starwood and Hilton properties have already accepted.

"As a result, Unite Here has denied Hyatt associates it represents the wage and benefit increases they deserve for nearly three years," Doug Patrick, senior vice president of human resources at Hyatt Hotels, said in a statement e-mailed to Hotel Check-in.

"While continuing to deny our associates the pay raises and benefits increases they deserve, Unite Here leaders' new call for a global boycott of Hyatt will have a direct and negative impact on our associates, who depend on business at our hotels for their livelihoods," Patrick said. "If successful, the boycott will hurt our associates, contradicting the union's stated objective of supporting our associates by improving their workplace environment and compensation."

Readers: Would you boycott Hyatt Hotels or do you think the hotel chain's arguments have merit?

Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodayTravel-Hotels/~3/YQAB5GAvTKo/1

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