Time to Demonstrate, Not Celebrate!

April 13, 2012/in Updates/by UNITEHERELocal8

Rally for the Next Fifty!

Saturday, April 21st

12:00pm to 1:30pm

@ the Space Needle (Broad Street)

On April 21st, the Seattle Center will begin its 50th anniversary celebration by celebrating the “Next Fifty” years. The Space Needle will be having a huge private celebration that evening, while their workers continue to fear the outsourcing of their jobs.

Across Seattle, nearly 1,000 hospitality workers are fighting for a future with living wages, affordable heatlh care, and job security. These workers come from the Space Needle, the Edgewater, the Seattle Hilton, the Washington Athletic Club, and now the Hyatt at Olive 8. Join us to send a message that the next fifty years should stand for a future where workers share in the city’s prosperity.

Hyatt at Olive 8 Seattle workers demand a fair process to organize

April 3, 2012/in Updates/by UNITEHERELocal8

Today, workers at Seattle’s Hyatt at Olive 8, a non-union hotel, bravely stepped forward and joined thousands of Hyatt workers nationwide to organize for a better future for themselves, their families, and their community.

King County Councilmembers Larry Gossett and Joe McDermott, Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata, Port Commissioner Rob Holland, and twenty community allies stood with the workers asking the Hyatt at Olive 8 for a fair process to organize. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn also sent a powerful letter of support.

Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst employer in the national hotel industry. Hyatt has abused its workers, replacing longtime employees with minimum wage temporary workers and imposing dangerous workloads on those who remain. Hyatt housekeepers have high rates of injury.

Hyatt workers suffer from a glaring lack of respect. On a hot summer day in downtown Chicago, with temperatures climbing above 100 degrees, Hyatt turned heat lamps on striking workers and only stopped when reports started surfacing in the press. At the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California, two housekeepers, Martha and Lorena Reyes, were humiliated on the job.

Workers at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle are joining the movement of workers in Indianapolis, San Antonio, Scottsdale, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Long Beach calling on Hyatt to accept a fair process to enable them to choose whether or not to join a union without employer intimidation. Hyatt has refused.

Please join us in standing with them as they take the bold step of speaking up publicly to end the mistreatment they experience at work. Stay tuned for ways you can help by liking “Hyatt Hurts” on Facebook. Also, check out www.hyatthurts.org for more information.

Time to celebrate? Not yet! Over 100 rally to call for Justice at the Space Needle

March 16, 2012/in Updates/by UNITEHERELocal8

Over 100 Space Needle workers and community allies held a spirited rally in pouring rain under the shadow of Seattle’s signature icon yesterday. Five weeks before the Space Needle’s grand 50th anniversary celebration, they all call on the owners of this international symbol of Seattle to support living wages, good benefits and job security for the people who work there.

In recent bargaining sessions, the Space Needle has proposed subcontracting its workforce, a practice known as outsourcing. “In other words,” said Sanjeet Thebe, a server assistant at the Space Needle, “I could be replaced any day with temporary workers making lower wages and no benefits. Living under this stress has not been good—for me and for my family.”

The Space Needle and the workers have been in negotiations since May 2011. On February 9th, Space Needle workers overwhelmingly rejected a “last and final” proposal by management that did not include protections from subcontracting. Space Needle workers and management now turn to Federal Mediation, with the first session to take place in the end of March.

Each year the Space Needle attracts over a million visitors making it one of the top tourist destinations in the region. The Needle’s Sky City Restaurant is the most patronized in Seattle with dinners costing as much as $60 a plate. Space Needle workers have stood together and fought for years to achieve excellent wages and benefits at the icon of Seattle.

For the past 50 years the Space Needle has stood for good jobs and dignity and respect for workers. With outsourcing looming at the symbol of Seattle, the next 50 years could stand for poverty. That’s why Space Needle and other hospitality workers in Seattle are deciding to stand up and fight back.

For some media coverage of the event, click here and here.

Learn more at the Justice at the Needle Facebook page.

Justice @the Needle – Rally on Thursday, March 15, 3pm-4pm

March 10, 2012/in Updates/by UNITEHERELocal8

Support the workers at the Space Needle in their fight for their jobs. Like their struggle on Facebook, and join us at the:

RALLY!

@ the Space Needle

(Broad Street)

Thursday, March 15
3pm to 4pm

Each year, the Space Needle attracts over 1 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations in Washington State. The Sky City Restaurant at the Needle is the most visited restaurant in Seattle, and costs visitors over $60 a plate. Accordingly, wages and benefits for workers at the Space Needle are somewhat higher than average service sector jobs. But that may not be for long.

Workers at the Space Needle have been in negotiations with the Space Needle Corporation for many months, where workers are fighting for living wages, benefits, and job security.

In recent bargaining sessions, the Space Needle has asked for the ability to subcontract its workforce, a practice also known as outsourcing. “In other words,” according to Sanjeet Thebe, a server assistant at the Space Needle, “I could be replaced any day with temporary workers making lower wages and no benefits. What kind of a future is that for me and my family?”

Join Space Needle workers in their struggle to fight back. Don’t let the symbol of Seattle stand for poverty! Read more…

Boycott the Hilton Seattle – New Video

March 9, 2012/in Updates/by UNITEHERELocal8

The approximately 100 unionized workers at the Hilton Seattle are fighting not only for a fair contract; they are standing up to demand an agreement that would protect their jobs and their Union if the hotel is sold. Without such an agreement, the entire workforce could be fired and replaced with minimum wage workers with no benefits. The hotel’s owner, R.C. Hedreen, put the hotel on the market over the summer and has repeatedly rejected demands to protect workers’ jobs in the event of a sale. Hedreen has made millions off the backs of the Hilton workers, and he has the power to protect these workers and their jobs.

STAND WITH THE HILTON WORKERS! BOYCOTT HILTON SEATTLE!

TAKE ACTION! Say NO to McDonald’s at Seatac Airport

March 1, 2012/in Updates/by UNITEHERELocal8

The Port of Seattle Commission is set to vote on a proposal to bring McDonald’s, the biggest fast food corporation in the country and the world, to SeaTac Airport. It is time for the Port of Seattle to stop and take a stand for workers, the local community, the environment, social equity and sustainable business practices.