Workers Strike San Francisco’s Grand Hyatt Hotel
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| San Francisco hotel workers rallied in September for a fair contract. |
Hotel workers began a three-day strike this morning at the Grand Hyatt Union Square in San Francisco. The strike comes two weeks after members of UNITE HERE Local 2 voted by a 92 percent to 8 percent margin to authorize strikes at any of the 31 upscale hotels in San Francisco.
Local 2’s contracts with the luxury hotels expired in June. Since then, the union has been trying to negotiate new agreements. But despite earning record profits over the past five years, the hotels are using the recession as an excuse to demand changes in eligibility for the employees’ health care plan that would eliminate coverage or put it out of reach for many workers.
“This is a limited strike,” said Local 2 President Mike Casey.
It’s intended to send a clear signal to this corporation that they cannot use a temporary downturn to permanently drive down workers’ living standards.
While demanding workers take concessions, the Pritzker family, which owns the Grand Hyatt, is conducting an initial public stock offering today expected to raise close to $1 billion.
Says Aurolyn Rush, a 13-year telephone operator at the Grand Hyatt:
Hyatt’s cashing out almost a billion dollars for its owners, but at the same time they’re pushing to make health care unaffordable for me and my family? That is unforgivable, and we’re not going to stand for it.
Labor Leader Slain in 1907 Honored in Massachusetts
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The staff of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO sent us this great report.
In 1907, Edward Cohen, the president of the Massachusetts American Federation of Labor (AFL) and crusader for strong child labor laws, workers’ rights and workplace safety, was shot and killed by a man attempting to assassinate Gov. Curtis Guild Jr.
This week, a huge bronze plaque honoring Cohen’s achievements and labor’s contributions to Bay State workers was unveiled at the Massachusetts State House. Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes says the dedication of the plaque “is one of the greatest moments in our history.”
Where else is there a plaque that is dedicated to a slain labor leader and which captures all the amazing contributions of the labor movement in such a prominent location as between the offices of the governor and the speaker in our esteemed State House?”
Trumka: AFL-CIO Strongly Committed to Diversity
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| At the AFL-CIO Diversity Conference today, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka pledged the AFL-CIO will recommit to embracing diversity at every level. |
The union movement is becoming more diverse and the new leadership of the AFL-CIO is committed to working harder to reach out to young workers, people of color, women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said today at the AFL-CIO National Summit on Diversity. Trumka told the more than 500 participants the federation’s commitment to diversity is on its way to becoming a reality:
I’m here to tell you that we must change. That is why we’re seeking out and encouraging young people, people of color, people of all backgrounds and beliefs and sexual orientation. These are the labor leaders of tomorrow.
Massachusetts Moving on Paid Sick Leave Legislation
In recent weeks, we’ve all heard the advice to stay home from work if symptoms show up that could indicate an H1N1 (swine flu) infection. But as the National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF) long has pointed out, nearly 50 percent of private-sector workers have no paid sick leave. And 76 percent of low-income workers lose a day or more of pay if they stay home sick.
Tomorrow in Boston, the Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition will make that point and urge lawmakers to make the Bay State the first to require employers to provide paid sick leave for workers.
The coalition, which includes the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, affiliated unions, community and other groups, will gather in the State House in the 4th floor cafeteria and distribute surgical masks and flu “prescriptions” urging passage of legislation (S.B. 688 and H.B. 1815) allowing workers to earn up to seven paid sick leave days a year.
Workers Memorial Day 2009
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The very real threat of being killed or seriously hurt on the job hangs over every worker and workplace in the nation. In 2007—the year with the latest available figures—5,657 workers lost their lives on the job and more than 4 million other workers were hurt or made ill, according to the AFL-CIO’s 18th annual “Death on the Job” report.
“Death on the Job” reports that another 50,000 to 60,000 workers died due to occupational diseases. On an average day, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease, and another 10,959 are injured. Yet little has been done in recent years, says the report, to improve job safety and protect workers.
For eight years, the Bush administration failed to take action to address major safety and health problems. Many OSHA and [Mine Safety and Health Administration] MSHA rules were withdrawn or blocked. The rules that were issued were largely in response to court challenges, congressional mandates or tragedies. New and emerging hazards were not actively addressed. Voluntary efforts were favored over strong enforcement.
Construction Workers Turn ‘Tip’ Into Cash for Sick Kids
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Construction workers in Portland, Ore., have come up with a unique way to help children with a serious disease. It all began about three weeks ago when Roger Bullock, a 12-year member of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 701, found a penny on the floor of the elevator he operates five days a week at a downtown Portland construction site.
According to the Northwest Labor Press, he jokingly told his co-workers, “That’s my tip for the day,” as he taped the penny to the wall of the elevator. The paper reports:
by the end of the day, a nickel and dime were taped to the wall next to the penny. “It went from nickels and dimes to quarters and dollar bills,” Bullock said. Pretty soon, Bullock had more than $10 on the wall.
“I didn’t want to keep the money,” he told the NW Labor Press. So he posted a sign saying: “Children’s Cancer Society.”
Word spread that Bullock was giving the money to the cancer center at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In less than a week more than $200 was tacked to the elevator walls.
For Children with Cancer, a Special Gift from Ironworkers
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The members of Ironworkers Local 7 work hard in the cold, windy weather in Boston. But they have found a way to keep their hearts warm and to provide a special gift to hundreds of young cancer patients.
Children who come to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, each day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the building.
So far, the workers have paid tribute to more than 100 children. Last Friday, ABC News spotlighted members of Local 7 and named the children they honor as its “Persons of the Week.”
Massachusetts Unions Train Working Teens in Workplace Safety and Health
The Massachusetts AFL-CIO, along with several local unions, is part of a new alliance in the Bay State that will provide workplace safety training for the state’s alternative high school students.
Working with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and several state education and labor agencies, the alliance partners will conduct OSHA’s 10-hour construction and general industry course. In addition, alliance members will develop and conduct a broad workplace health and safety program for the teenagers—many of whom work while attending school—and also address other teen workplace safety issues.
Says Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes:
The most important thing about a job is the ability to make it home safely each night and return healthy the next day. We are involved with this program because it will not only provide valuable safety training so these students will be protected on the job, but it will also give them a leg up on employment opportunities in this tough economy.
