This Friday, July 22nd – Two events, one struggle

SEATTLE – THE WESTIN HOTEL

5th and Virginia, Downtown Seattle

4pm-6pm

SEATAC – DOUBLETREE HOTEL

International Blvd and 188th

4:15pm-5:30pm

During the recession, hotels protected their profits by cutting staff and increasing workloads for already overburdened workers.

But this summer, fourteen hundred hotel workers whose union contracts have expired have a chance to join together to fight for a better life. Among them are immigrant, women and LGBT workers who are uniting to demand a share in the economic recovery that hotels have enjoyed.

Join the call for better jobs in King County’s hospitality sector! Together, let’s bring back the middle class.

For more information, contact:

Seattle: Jasmine Marwaha at [email protected] or 206-470-2993

SeaTac: Cindy Richardson at [email protected] or 206-470-2982

As Seattle hotels prosper, workers call for their share of the economic recovery; union contracts already expired.

Over 150 workers from Seattle-area hotels will gather this afternoon in front of the Westin hotel to call for livable wages, job security, and respect on the job.

This summer, union contracts covering over 1,400 workers have expired.  The affected hotels and restaurants include the Westin, Edgewater, Seattle Hilton, Washington Athletic Club, Space Needle, SeaTac Hilton, and the Doubletree.

During the recession, hotels continued to remain profitable through a combination of layoffs, decreased work schedules and increased workloads for staff, burdening its low-wage workforce. According to the industry’s own projections, hotels will be returning to record profit levels by 2012.

“Hotel workers can sometimes seem invisible,” says Erik Van Rossum, Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 8, the union representing the workers in the campaign. “They create luxury in Seattle’s hotels by cleaning the rooms, washing the dishes, and cooking the food, among other thankless jobs. But now they are standing up with one voice to demand respect and fairness.”