Protestors rally at Hyatt headquarters in Chicago in February 2013.

[Chicago, IL] In Chicago—hometown to Hyatt Hotels and President Obama–Hyatt workers are launching protests against the nomination of Penny Pritzker as Commerce Secretary, just days before confirmations hearings begin. Hyatt workers have been locked in a protracted battle with Hyatt that has resulted in numerous strikes nationwide and a global boycott of Hyatt Hotels. Ms. Pritzker’s family built its financial empire with Hyatt Hotels and maintains a controlling interest in the company.

Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst hotel employer in the United States, leading the industry in outsourcing practices that destroy good jobs and hurt housekeepers. In a first for the hotel industry OSHA recently issued a companywide letter to Hyatt warning it of the hazards its housekeepers face on the job.

In Chicago, Hyatt workers have endured a four-year wage freeze amid contract negotiations that have stalled around issues of subcontracting and safer working conditions for housekeepers. In recent months, workers have appealed to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), which owns Hyatt McCormick Place, to push Hyatt to provide wage increases that would give financial relief to workers.

“Our wages have been frozen since 2009, and our families are suffering,” says Cristian Toro, a banquet server at the Hyatt Regency McCormick. “Hyatt has set a bad example for the rest of the hotel industry, and we’re taking a stand.”

“The Commerce Secretary’s first concern should be to create good, family sustaining jobs for all Americans,” says Cathy Youngblood, a Hyatt housekeeper who has led a national campaign to elect a hotel worker to Hyatt’s Board of Directors. “Under Pritzker’s direction, Hyatt has led the hotel industry in a race to the bottom by aggressively subcontracting out career hotel jobs to minimum wage temps. This is not the model that will lead our country to a bright economic future.”

On May 2, President Obama announced his nomination of Penny Pritzker to Commerce Secretary. Confirmation hearings begin on Thursday, May 23rd. Ms. Pritzker has been a Director at Hyatt since 2004.

The cause of Hyatt workers has been championed by civil rights leaders nationally, including the National Organization of Women (NOW), the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

Contact Carly Karmel at (312) 933-4045 for more information.

###
UNITE HERE Local 1, Chicago’s hospitality workers union, represents over 15,000 hotel and food service workers in Chicago and casino workers in Northwest Indiana.

Check out Cathy’s post on Michael Moore’s site here.

And learn about Cathy and the Someone Like Me campaign here.

The Montana, Kansas, Texas and Connecticut state Democratic parties, as well as the Young Elected Officials Network have endorsed the boycott and encouraged their members to support Hyatt workers’ struggle.

Thank you to all of these leaders for their solidarity.

• Rafael Mandelman, Community College Board Trustee,
• Quentin Phipps, City Treasurer, Connecticut
• Craig Rice, Montgomery County Council Vice President, Maryland
• Danielle Adams, Soil and Water Conservation Districts Director, North Carolina
• Jamar Brown, Champaign Unifed School District Board of Education Member, Illinois
• Rene Aguilera, Board Trustee, Roseville Joint Union High School District,
• J Brian Washman, Chair, Placer County Democratic Party, California
• Sylvia Navarro, Democratic Women’s Council of the Conejo Valley, California
• Rachel Rekowski, Vice President of Clark County Young Democrats,
• Phillip Kim, Placer County Democratic Central Committee Member,
• Christina Billeci, Yuba County Democratic Central Committee Chair, California
• Edward Fleming, California Democratic Party Resolutions Committee Member, California
• Craig Beauchamp, Orange County Democratic Party, California
• Debra Broner, California Democratic Party Region 10 Director, California
• Chris England, Representative , Alabama
• Lela Alston, State Representative, Arizona
• Jonathan Larkin, State Representative, Arizona
• Ruben Gallego, Assistant Minority Leader, Arizona
• Phil Ting, Assemblymember, California
• Kevin Mullin, Assemblymember, California
• Das Williams, Assemblymember, California
• Nora Campos, Speaker Pro Tempore, California
• Ellen Corbett, Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, California
• Edwin Vargas, State Representative, Connecticut
• James Albis, State Representative, Connecticut
• Matthew Lesser, Assistant Majority Leader, Connecticut
• David Baram, State Representative, Connecticut
• Mae Flexer, State Representative, Connecticut
• Gary Holder-Winfield, State Representative, Connecticut
• John Kowalko, State Representative, Delaware
• Reggie Fullwood, State Representative, Florida
• Nan Orrock, State Senator, Georgia
• Henry Aquino, Representative, Hawaii
• Nicole Lowen, State Representative, Hawaii
• John Mizuno, Vice Speaker, Hawaii
• Barbara Flynn Currie, State Representative, Illinois
• Linda Chapia Lavia, State Representative, Illinois
• Lou Lang, Floor Majority Leader, Illinois
• Robert Martwick, State Representative, Illinois
• Pat Sloop, Representative, Indiana
• Timothy Skinner, State Senator, Indiana
• Linda Lawson, Minority Floor Leader, Indiana
• Pam Jochum, President, Iowa
• Henry Beck, Representative, Maine
• Russell (Wayne) Werts, legislator, Maine
• Justin Chenette, State Representative, Maine
• Ann Peoples, State Representative, Maine
• Anne Gobi, Representative, Massachusetts
• Sean Garballey, State Representative, Massachusetts
• Karen Spilka, Massachusetts Senator, Massachusetts
• Katherine Clark, State Senator, Massachusetts
• Kenneth Donnelly, State Senator, Massachusetts
• Hoon-Yung Hopgood, State Senator, Michigan
• Peter Fischer, State Representative, Minnesota
• Christine Eaton, Senator, Minnesota
• Tom Steenberg, Representative, Montana
• Gilman Shattuck, Representative, New Hampshire
• Timothy Soucy, Representative, New Hampshire
• Cynthia Chase, Representative, New Hampshire
• George Sykes, State Representative, New Hampshire
• Connie Wagner, Assemblywoman, New Jersey
• Joseph Cryan, Assemblymember, New Jersey
• Annette Quijano, Assemblymember, New Jersey
• Ruben Ramos, Jr., Assemblyman, New Jersey
• Peter Barnes, Assemblyman, New Jersey
• Gary Schaer, Assemblyman, New Jersey
• Alan Maisel, Assembly Majority Chair, New York
• William Colton, Assemblymember, New York
• Brad Hoylman, New York State Senator, New York
• Ellie Kinnaird, Senator, North Carolina
• Tim Mathern, Senator, North Dakota
• Charleta B. Tavares, Senator, Ohio
• Joe Schiavoni , Senator, Ohio
• Michael Dembrow, Representative, Oregon
• Brent Barton, State Representative, Oregon
• Jessica Vega Pederson, State Representative, Oregon
• Diane Rosenbaum, Senate Majority Leader, Oregon
• Val Hoyle, House Majority Leader, Oregon
• Wayne Fontana, State Senator, Pennsylvania
• Frank Ciccone, Senator, Rhode Island
• Dominick Ruggerio, Senate Majority Leader, Rhode Island
• Joseph Jefferson, State Representative, South Carolina
• Bernie Hunhoff, State Representative, South Dakota
• Eduardo Lucio III, State Representative, Texas
• Eddie Rodriguez, State Representative, Texas
• Alma Allen, State Representative, Texas
• MIchel Consejo, State Representative, Vermont
• Maida Townsend, State Representative, Vermont
• Scott Surovell, Delegate, Virginia
• Dave Marsden, Senator, Virginia
• Luke Torian, Delegate, Virginia
• Larry Edgell, Senate President Pro Tempore, West Virginia
• Mike Caputo, Majority Whip, West Virginia
• Stephen Skinner, Delegate, West Virginia
• Tod Ohnstad, WI State Representative, Wisconsin
• Brad Witt, Representative, Oregon
• Jason Rojas, State Representative, Connecticut
• Ed Chau, Assemblymember, California
• Jackson Whipper, State Representative, South Carolina
• Thomas Giblin, Assemblyman, New Jersey
• Scott Pelath, Indiana House Democratic Leader, Indiana
• Bill Quirk, Assemblymember, California
• Toni Atkins, Assemblymember, California
• Ana Hernandez Luna, State Representative, Texas
• B. Patrick Bauer, State Representative, Indiana
• Ben Hueso, State Senator, California
• Carol Fukunaga, Senator, Hawaii
• Christine Tartaglione, Senator, Pennsylvania
• Jim Rosapepe, Senator, Maryland
• Karen Keiser, Senator, Washington
• Karl Rhoads, State Representative, Hawaii
• Mandy Wright, Assemblywoman, Wisconsin
• Martin Walsh, State Representative, Massachusetts
• Scott Sifton, State Senator, Missouri
• Seth Barry, State Representative, Maine
• Shirley Ringo, Representative, Idaho
• Tyrone Brooks, Representative, Georgia
• Winfred Dukes, Representative, Georgia
• Max Gruenberg Jr, Representative, Alaska
• Oklahoma State Senator Jerry Ellis
• Oklahoma Democratic Party

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday President Barack Obama nominated Penny Pritzker to be Commerce Secretary, a role that requires a serious focus on the challenge of helping workers achieve full-time jobs with decent wages and safe working conditions.

It is common for Cabinet Secretaries to step down from their positions at publicly traded companies.  If Ms. Pritzker decides to step down from Hyatt’s Board of Directors, this will create the first ever vacancy on Hyatt’s Board.  Hyatt’s remaining directors have the opportunity to fill the vacancy with a hotel worker.

Hyatt’s corporate governance guidelines call for Directors with “judgment, character, expertise, skills and knowledge useful to the oversight of Hyatt’s business’ who exemplify a ‘diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds and experiences”.

But Hyatt’s current directors are mostly white men with a background in private equity, none of whom have direct experience working in a hotel.

“We all have a shared stake in Hyatt’s success, but no one who cleans rooms like me has a real say at Hyatt,” says Cathy Youngblood, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Andaz in West Hollywood.  “By choosing someone like me to be on the board, Hyatt could be a model for corporate America at a time when so many hotel workers feel left behind.”

Hyatt has faced harsh criticism for its mistreatment of housekeepers and is the subject of a boycott called by hotel workers and their allies.

“I’m confident that Ms. Pritzker will do her best to help our Country succeed,” says Youngblood,  “but if Hyatt is going to succeed, they need to change—I believe they need someone like me to help.”

According to the recently-filed form, Bernard Aronson, who has been on the Hyatt Board since 2004 will not run for re-election. Hyatt has instead nominated Cary McMillan; the CEO of Chicago based True Partners Consulting.
Hyatt has been the subject of labor disputes since 2009. In 2012 the hotel workers union and their allies have called for a global boycott of the company. The boycott has been endorsed by national labor, civil rights, Latino and LGBT organizations. At least 146 group customers have pulled events from over 40 boycotted properties.

Hyatt housekeepers say they have a simple solution to move Hyatt in a new direction. In events nationwide, Hyatt workers have urged the company to add a hotel worker to its board of directors. Workers say Hyatt would be better off if someone who served hotel guests at some point in the last decade actually had a say in how the company is run.

“They already have a number of white male Chicago-based corporate executives with similar job skills,” says Hyatt Andaz worker Cathy Youngblood who is leading the campaign to have Hyatt put a worker on the corporate board. “What the company truly needs is the perspective of someone who has actually cleaned a room or served a guest.”

With a board of 10 men, 2 women and only one person of color, Hyatt had the opportunity to move their board to a composition that was more in tune with their workforce and with the traveling public.

Hyatt still has the opportunity to make a meaningful change in its board composition. The board is empowered to increase the size or to fill vacancies.

The nearby Hyatt Regency Santa Clara has also appealed its property taxes since 2010. Despite a strong recovery, major renovations and a lucrative location, Hyatt claimed the hotel is worth less than half of the $128 Million Hyatt purchased it for in 2005.

Are these the actions of a good community partner?

[San Francisco, CA] – Members of the Muslim community, including Imam Zaid Shakir of the Lighthouse Mosque, announce their support of the global boycott of Hyatt hotels in a video that can be found here. They join a growing list of allies who back the Hyatt boycott in response to widespread evidence of harmful working conditions for hotel housekeepers and Hyatt’s practice of subcontracting workers. Many found religious teachings as basis for worker support.

“[Hyatt workers’] rights have been violated, their labor has been exploited, and it’s very important for us to challenge what is going on,” says Imam Shakir.

The video marks a significant step in the right direction of clergy and religious leaders in the Muslim community against the injustices experienced by hotel workers at Hyatt.

“What’s really egregious about the situation with the Hyatt is that here you have a multi-national, worldwide franchise who’s bringing all of their collective muscle to bear against workers who in some instances are barely making a minimum wage,” Imam Shakir adds.

UNITE HERE announced the boycott on July 23, 2012. Since then, the effort to push for the improvement of working conditions and ensure the right of workers to organize has received increasing support from more than 5,000 individuals and organizations, including the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the AFL-CIO, the National Organization of Women (NOW), and Interfaith Worker Justice.

Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst hotel employer in the hotel industry by abusing housekeepers, replacing longtime employees with minimum wage temporary workers, and imposing health-threatening workloads on those who remain.

The video is a call to action to all people of faiths to join in the hotel workers’ boycott of Hyatt.

All Hyatt associates who will be represented by UNITE HERE Local 11 in Long Beach were eligible to vote in the election, which was supervised by an independent election judge. The election judge verified the results last week, noting that a majority of Hyatt associates who were eligible to vote chose to have UNITE HERE represent them. Hyatt associates were notified last week of the election results.

“We’ve always maintained strong relations with our associates and unions representing Hyatt associates in other locations, and we’ve always believed Hyatt associates should have the right to choose union representation in an election,” said Stephen D’Agostino, General Manager of Hyatt Regency Long Beach. “We look forward to working with UNITE HERE to reach a contract that will continue to support our associates and maintain our high workplace standards.”

In November 2012, Long Beach voters approved Measure N, establishing a new minimum wage for hotel workers. The election paves the way for a better relationship between UNITE HERE Local 11 and Hyatt hotels in Long Beach. The election also marks an end to UNITE HERE’s boycott of Hyatt Regency Long Beach and Hyatt The Pike.

“We are very excited to welcome Hyatt Regency and Hyatt The Pike workers to UNITE HERE, a growing movement of housekeepers, cooks, bellman and others in the hospitality industry. On behalf of our new members, we are committed to negotiating the best contract we can that addresses wages, benefits and working conditions,” said Ada Briceno, secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 11. “We look forward to sitting down together with Hyatt.”

Several Long Beach councilmembers joined today’s announcement at City Hall, including Lowenthal, whose second district is home to both Hyatt properties.

“It’s rewarding to see that Measure N is already helping Long Beach’s tourism industry,” said Dr. Lowenthal, who represents Long Beach City Council District 2. “Hyatt Regency Long Beach and Hyatt The Pike are important members of our community and anchors of the tourism industry in Long Beach. Measure N has allowed us to build a relationship between Hyatt hotels in Long Beach and UNITE HERE Local 11 that will benefit the hotels, workers, and the community going forward.”

About Hyatt Regency Long Beach

Hyatt Regency Long Beach, located a quarter mile from Long Beach’s renowned six mile beach, offers 528 modern guest rooms, all with water views, including ten suites and ten Executive King accommodations. The property features 22,000 square feet of function and meeting space, and is wired with WiFi and high speed internet access. The hotel’s signature restaurant, Tides Poolside Restaurant, serves farm-to-table, seasonal continental cuisine. Additionally guests enjoy the hotel’s Perks Coffee Pantry for morning grab and go service, and its Lobby Lounge Bar for cocktails and light fare in the evenings. In-room dining, a heated outdoor pool and whirlpool, and complimentary Stay Fit Gym, round out the hotel’s amenities. For reservations or more information, call Hyatt Regency Long Beach at 562-491-1234 or visit www.longbeach.hyatt.com.

About Hyatt The Pike Long Beach

Hyatt The Pike Long Beach, located steps from all of Long Beach’s major attractions, offers 138 well-appointed rooms and suites styled with contemporary luxury furnishings, and offers boutique style amenities such as Italian coverlet linens and DEAN & DELUCA snacks. All rooms have custom lighting, MP3 docking stations, soothing sounds machines, in-room coffeemakers, flat panel televisions and roomy work stations with ergonomic chairs. The hotel’s signature restaurant, Bay Street Kitchen, offers farm-to-table menus, drawing from California’s seasonal and local produce. The Rooftop 360 lounge offers poolside seating and cabanas, live weekend entertainment, full bar, light fare and bottle service. Additionally, Hyatt The Pike features five distinct meeting and event rooms totaling 6,000 square feet.  For more information or to book reservations at Hyatt The Pike Long Beach, call 562-432-1234 or visit www.thepikelongbeach.hyatt.com.

About UNITE HERE Local 11

UNITE HERE Local 11 represents 20,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, airports, sports arenas and convention centers in Southern California.