Hospitality Jobs Should Sustain Families, Not Drain Public Resources

Over 200 hotel workers, policy makers, and community members gathered last week to discuss the impact of hotel development on Seattle’s hospitality workers. According to a recent report from Puget Sound Sage, much of Seattle’s hotel workforce currently lives near poverty, requiring public dollars to subsidize their health care costs as well as their food and housing.

“I have to work two jobs to make ends meet,” said Ruyao, a housekeeper at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in downtown Seattle. “Most of my days I spend working on my feet from 8am until 11 o’clock at night.”

Hotel work is often difficult and dangerous. Pain and injury plague hotel workers at a higher rate than coal miners. “The job is very hard on my body, said Reyna, a housekeeper at the Edgewater Hotel. “As I get older it gets worse and worse.”

A Better Future Possible

With smart partnerships and higher industry standards, healthy businesses can create healthy communities in the Seattle area.  Service-sector jobs that pay living wages, provide benefits and create long-term economic security along the light rail corridor would allow for residents to prosper and further contribute to the local economy.

Hospitality workers at the event renewed their commitment to make their voices heard in the future of the industry.  Workers at the Edgewater Hotel and the Space Needle continue their struggle for living wages and benefits, job security, and respect, while the workers at the Hyatt at Olive 8 are fighting for a fair process to decide whether or not they want a union, free of employer interference.

Special thanks to King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Council Chair Larry Gossett, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien, Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, and Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen for participating in the Town Hall.

The Town Hall on Seattle Hotels was co-sponsored by: Seattle City Councilmembers Mike O’Brien, Nick Licata, Bruce Harrell, Tim Burgess, Jean Godden, and Tom Rasmussen, King County Councilmembers Larry Gossett and Julia Patterson, Puget Sound Sage, Low Income Housing Institute, Faith Action Network, Church Council of Greater Seattle, Pride at Work, Seattle Gay News, One America, Economic Opportunity Institute, Central Co-op, and the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition

Boycott of Hilton Seattle Called Off

SEATTLE – Amidst news of the impending sale of the Hilton Seattle Hotel, the R.C. Hedreen Company – the hotel’s current owner – agreed to the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement yesterday with UNITE HERE Local 8, the union representing nearly 100 workers at the hotel.   This agreement includes a guarantee that workers will keep their jobs when the hotel is sold.  The terms of the contract also include wage increases, affordable health insurance premiums, and safer workloads for housekeepers.

The Hilton Seattle put the hotel up for sale in September 2011, causing immediate concern for its longtime workers, who feared their jobs would be sold out from under them.

Chuck Cruise, a bellman for over 30 years, including 6 years at the Hilton Seattle, is breathing easier knowing he can continue to rely on his job. “My wife and I depend on our medical insurance for our lives. If we didn’t have my job, we’d have nothing.”

Chuck did not look forward to the prospect of entering the job market again. “I know I wouldn’t find a job quickly in this economy, especially one that would pay a living wage and cover my family’s medical bills.”

At the Hilton Seattle, a typical full-time hotel worker makes approximately $30,000 annually with full family medical coverage, among other benefits. By contrast, the median wage for a Seattle hotel worker is barely above the federal poverty level, amounting to $23,000 annually, often without affordable health insurance.  A recent report from Puget Sound Sage, a regional economic policy advocacy organization, further discusses the poverty working conditions of hotel workers across Seattle, and is available at www.pugetsoundsage.org/hotelreport.

“The union helped my coworkers and me stay strong to fight for our jobs,” says Chuck. “I’m glad we could work out an agreement with the R.C. Hedreen Company that keeps us working and living a decent life.”

“Richard Hedreen showed again his longstanding leadership in our community, doing the right thing for workers and for Seattle,” says Erik Van Rossum, the executive officer of UNITE HERE Local 8. “The agreement protects the livelihoods of a hundred Seattle area families, and that will have a positive effect throughout the region.“

The signing of the new agreement, which will carry over to the new owners, also marks the end of the Hilton Seattle boycott, called by workers last September.

According to the agreement, the retention of the current workers and continued application of the terms of the new contract will be a condition of any sale.

For more information, contact Jasmine Marwaha, UNITE HERE Local 8,  206-963-6458, [email protected]

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.