Join the Hyatt Boycott: Tell the Hotel Chain to Rehire Housekeeping Staff Now!

by Leigh Graham · 2009-09-24 06:30:00 UTC
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On August 31, 3 Boston-area Hyatt properties laid off 98 housekeeping staff, many of them seasoned employees earning $15/hour, and replaced them with outsourced staff from a Georgia company that pays $8/hour and offers far fewer benefits.  The hotel chain cited financial difficulties as justification for laying off these vulnerable workers, and threatened compromised customer service if they were forced to walk back this low-road economic decision.  Particularly at issue is the false pretenses the housekeeping staff alleges in which they were laid off and tricked into training their own replacements, a charge the corporation denies.

MA Governor Patrick isn't buying it - and neither should you.  Governor Patrick has enacted a boycott of Hyatt properties by state employees - a move more symbolic than financial in impact - but one that has already forced Hyatt to extend severance benefits and work more closely with laid-off workers on re-training and job placement assistance.

That's not enough - if we allow companies to pursue these low-road strategies, where they pursue profitability mainly through cutting worker costs through outsourcing to the latest lowest bidder - we're condoning the permanent insecurity of the lowest-wage, lowest-skilled workers, who are already hit hardest during economic downturns.

Join Governor Patrick and the National Employment Lawyers Association in this boycott - and send a letter to Hyatt President and CEO Mark S. Hoplamazian today, telling him that you don't support these low-road business measures and that you will not be patronizing Hyatt properties until these 98 housekeepers are reinstated.

Sign the petition now.

(Photo of the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, one of the targeted hotels, by mathplourde)

Leigh Graham
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