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Housekeepers Brief Congressional Caucus on Abuses and Hazards Faced at Hyatt

Sep 21st, 2012

Washington, DC—a delegation of Hyatt housekeepers and other workers visited the House Labor and Working Families Caucus today to brief members of Congress on the abuses and dangers they face as workers at Hyatt. 30 congressional leaders and staffers were in attendance.

“I am proud of the work I do, but I’ve experienced abuses that I had to speak out about,” Elvia Bahena, a former housekeeper in Indianapolis said. “I used to work at the Hyatt, through a subcontractor who pays us poverty wages and refuses to give us health insurance, sick days, or other basic benefits.” She went on to describe testifying about Hyatt’s subcontracting abuses at a City Council meeting. Two weeks later she was fired, despite having an exemplary work and attendance record.

Bahena was joined today by housekeepers and other workers from all over the country:

  • Eva Sanchez, San Francisco
  • Charlotte Knox, Baltimore
  • Ana Figueroa, San Francisco
  • Virgie Agulay, Hawaii
  • Myline Blando, Hawaii
  • Jacqueline Amoah, Chicago
  • Wanda Rosario, Boston
  • Regina Davis, Baltimore
  • Jeremy Pollard, Baltimore
  • Ryan Deller, Baltimore
  • Luke Walsh-Mellet, Baltimore
  • Mike Jones, Baltimore
  • Kris Castro, Baltimore

Hyatt leads the hotel industry in aggressively subcontracting housekeeping and other core functions, displacing longtime workers in favor of temporary workers earning minimum wage. Hyatt has also received 18 different health and safety citations from OSHA and other state agencies.

The workers who testified today have different stories, but one message: Hyatt hurts. Hyatt housekeepers and their fellow workers want the Labor and Working Families Caucus to know the dangers and abuses faced by Hyatt workers every day, and to take action.


The call to "Boycott Hyatt" does not include the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa and the Grand Hyatt Kauai, which have current collective bargaining agreements with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union; The Hyatt Regency Montreal, which has a contract with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN); the Hyatt Regeny Milwaukee and the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade, which have contracts with SEIU; and does not include the following Hyatt hotels with current UNITE HERE collective bargaining agreements: Grand Hyatt New York, Andaz 5th Avenue, Andaz Wall Street, Hyatt Hotel (Highway One Monterey), Hyatt Regency Monterey, Hyatt Penn's Landing (Philadelphia), Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center, Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina, Hyatt Regency on King (Toronto), Park Hyatt Toronto, Hyatt Regency Vancouver, Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Hyatt Rosemont, Hyatt Place San Jose, Hyatt Place Braintree (MA), Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn, and Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, the non-opened Park Hyatts in New York, the non-opened Portland Oregon Convention Center Hyatt Hotel, the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, the Hyatt The Pike Long Beach.

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