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Follow us on FacebookHousekeepers plan all-day picket line in aftermath of another questionable firing by Hyatt
[San Francisco] Hundreds of San Francisco hotel workers held an all-day picket line at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero on Monday, April 30. The action, on the eve of International Workers’ Day (May 1st), called attention to the injustices workers face from Hyatt Hotels.
Workers at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero have been without a contract since August 2009, and have called for a customer boycott of their hotel. Hyatt has distinguished itself as the worst employer in the hotel industry. Monday’s action comes in the wake of another questionable firing of a woman worker by Hyatt, the third in recent months.
Sonia Ordonez, a cook at the Hyatt Regency Chicago for 6 years, was fired two weeks ago when Hyatt claimed she missed the last few minutes of her shift. “I am not the first woman at Hyatt to be terminated or disciplined after speaking out against injustice,” says Ordonez. An outspoken leader in her hotel, Ordonez had shared her story of Hyatt’s mistreatment of workers with countless community leaders and called for justice from Hyatt’s top leaders at a previous shareholder meeting.
Monday’s action is one of numerous Bay Area protests marking May Day. Traditionally a celebration of the international labor movement and immigrant’s rights, International Workers’ Day is seeing a resurgence of interest in the US due to the Occupy movement.
UNITE HERE Local 2 represents 12,000 hotel and food service workers in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. For more information on Local 2, visit www.unitehere2.org. For more information on the Hyatt campaign, visit www.hyatthurts.org.
