Hotel workers in Seattle demand fair contracts

SEATTLE--More than 600 members and supporters of UNITE HERE Local 8 rallied downtown in front of the Westin Hotel on July 22. At the same time, 150 union members rallied at the Doubletree Inn near SeaTac Airport.

Several other hotels and restaurants have contracts up this summer as well. They include two Hiltons, The Edgewater, the Washington Athletic Club and the Space Needle. Altogether, some 1,400 workers are covered by the contracts.

The actions in Seattle are part of an ongoing campaign to get good contracts for overworked and underpaid employees--they followed another picket of 150 outside the Westin a couple weeks earlier.

Such contract campaigns are happening across the U.S. as part of the national "Hotel Workers Rising" effort. Other cities involved include San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Phoenix and Los Angeles, as well as a few cities in Hawaii. Most of the other areas are focused on the Hyatt chain.

"Hyatt has eliminated jobs, replaced career housekeepers with minimum wage temporary workers and imposed dangerous workloads on those housekeepers who remain," according to the Hotel Workers Rising website.

In Seattle, two other important issues are job security and the right to organize nonunion hotels without intimidation. As Aracely Cerezo Garcia said, "I have given many years, my body and my soul to this hotel, and now, I am here to fight for my job. We're going to fight until we have our jobs, our union and a fair contract."

The workers realize the hotels can easily afford the cost of decent wages and working conditions. The industry's own projections show that by 2012, they will have record profit levels, despite the recession. During the recession, the industry kept its profits up at the expense of workers by laying people off and overworking the rest.

This overwork in turn leads to an increase in injuries. The attack on the working conditions of hotel workers is part of a trend across the whole economy. Productivity has risen rapidly as employers drive to increase production after the recession, but hire few if any new workers even while layoffs continue.

The rally in front of the Westin blocked two lanes of traffic. It was symbolized by a giant blow-up "Fat Cat" strangling a worker. This got lots of notice from tourists and passersby, as well as union supporters, with many stopping to snap pictures.

Workers and supporters addressed the rally, and a representative of the Washington State Labor Council pledged the support of 400,000 unionized workers in Washington State to the hotel workers' campaign.

Many other unions and community organizations came to show their support. These included the Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers and the Seattle Solidarity Network. Most impressive were the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists (AFTRA) who marched out of their national convention inside the Westin, chanting their support for HERE Local 8. Their 300 delegates from all over the U.S. held bright red AFTRA signs in solidarity and were warmly greeted.

This rally is one of many that will be held on the way to a good contract. If the rallies are not enough, a strike is a possibility. The rally closed with workers forming a picket line around the whole building, chanting, "We'll be back!" There is no doubt that they will be, hopefully in even larger numbers.