Hyatt Boycott Goes Global

Supporters around the world stand with Hyatt housekeepers in North America

After many years of struggle, Hyatt workers and allies launched a global boycott of Hyatt on July 23, 2012. Leaders from the AFL-CIO, the NFL Players Association, the National Organization of Women (NOW), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Netroots Nation, Interfaith Worker Justice, and more joined Hyatt housekeepers for the launch, which marks the largest escalation to date in an ongoing campaign for basic worker rights.

Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst hotel employer in America. Hyatt has abused housekeepers and other hotel workers, replacing longtime employees with minimum wage temporary workers and imposing dangerous workloads on those who remain. In response, Hyatt workers have taken bold steps to end mistreatment, speaking publicly about abuses, going on strike, and now, launching a global boycott of Hyatt.

AFL-CIO, NFL Players, NOW and More Back Boycott

A global boycott of Hyatt hotels was launched on Monday, July 23, 2012. Hear what the leaders of NOW, the AFL-CIO, the NFL Players, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Center for Community Change and the Jewish community have to say about why they’re supporting the boycott. Watch the full press conference here: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/HyattHurts

Millions Called to Action: Vote Hyatt Worst

In conjunction with the launch of the global boycott, Hyatt workers and allies are calling on other supporters to “Vote Hyatt the Worst Hotel Employer in America.” MoveOn.org, Tom Morello, Netroots Nation, American Rights at Work, the Courage Campaign, the United Farmworkers Union, Making Change at Walmart and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs are among the many allies who are joining Hyatt workers in a call on millions to take action online to tell Hyatt that its abuse and exploitation of hotel workers will not be tolerated.

Support Around the Globe

The global Hyatt boycott has been endorsed virtually every union representing hotel workers worldwide. Additionally, over 5,000 individuals and organizations have pledged to honor boycotts called by Hyatt workers.

Global Support. The IUF is a global union federation including hotel and food service workers’ unions. It represents over 12 million workers in 120 countries. Delegates to the recent congress unanimously voted their support of the global Hyatt boycott in May. The IUF noted that “Hyatt’s business model relies upon the abuse and exploitation of women housekeepers and immigrants,” and that “IUF supports Hyatt workers in their struggle for dignity and justice.”

Protest at the Hyatt Regency Delhi. Hyatt is building 56 new hotels in India.

Protests across India. Hundreds of hotel workers in India have staged demonstrations outside of Hyatt hotels in Delhi, Goa, and Chennai in support of the global Hyatt boycott. Hotel workers are also fighting against subcontracting in the hospitality industry in India, where Hyatt has 56 hotels in development.

Additionally, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) has formally endorsed the global Hyatt boycott on behalf of the represents 10 million workers in India this union represent.

London calling. The United Kingdom’s largest union, Unite, pledged to support the Hyatt boycott on behalf of its 1.6 million members. Members of Unite held a solidarity rally outside of the Hyatt Andaz at Liverpool Street in London. Another union, the GMB, featured the Hyatt boycott during the Global Pride parade in London July 7, and is planning further actions during the week of the global boycott launch.

Standing against subcontracting in Israel. Freddi Cohen, Chairman of one of the member unions of Israel’s Histadrut labor federation, wrote a glowing letter of support for the struggle of North American Hyatt workers. He condemned Hyatt’s known abuses of subcontracted labor, and explained that the subcontracting of labor in hotels and many other sectors is now illegal in Israel following a powerful nation-wide general strike in February.

Solidarity in Manila. In the Philippines, several groups held a solidarity action in support of Hyatt workers. The IUF-affiliated NUWHRAIN, the hotel workers union in the Philippines, joined with the Alliance for Progressive Labor (APL) and Sentro ng mga Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro) to send a strong message outside the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila. In a press statement by NUWHRAIN, workers expressed their “solidarity with the workers of Hyatt in the United States and elsewhere in the world who have suffered and continued to suffer from many forms of exploitation and abuses perpetrated by the hotel brands under the Hyatt Corporation.”

Global petition. Nearly 100,000 members of SumOfUs.org in Australia, the United Kingdom and North America signed a petition calling on the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara to reinstate Martha and Lorena Reyes, who were fired after an objection to the posting of demeaning pictures of housekeepers in bikinis on a bulletin board at work.