By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012
     CHICAGO — Union housekeepers say they have a simple solution to move Hyatt in a new direction: they want the company to add a hotel worker to its board of directors. Workers say Hyatt would be better off if someone who served hotel guests at some point in the last decade actually had a say in how the company is run.
     Chicago is once again at the center of nationwide union action against Hyatt hotels. Actions kicked off Dec. 11 at the group’s Chicago headquarters as UNITE HERE brought criticism of Hyatt’s record of labor abuses.
     Hotel workers submitted a resolution last week to the company for consideration at the annual shareholders meeting in June 2013. Hyatt workers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Baltimore, Phoenix, Honolulu and Seattle also held events last week.
     Holding signs and speaking before large crowds, housekeepers say “someone like me” would make Hyatt a better company, for workers and shareholders alike. UNITE HERE says Democratic corporate governance structures that include workers have been successful in European countries for decades.
     “We all have a shared stake in Hyatt’s success, but no one who cleans rooms like me has a real say at Hyatt,” says Cathy Youngblood, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Andaz in West Hollywood. “By choosing someone like me to be on the board, Hyatt could be a model for corporate America at a time when so many American workers feel left behind.”
     Currently, Hyatt has 12 directors on its board. The new resolution proposes that a 13th board member be added from the ranks of Hyatt’s staff. Current board members include Tom and Penny Pritzker of the billionaire Pritzker family, Hyatt’s CEO Mark Hoplamazian, and Greg Penner, an heir to the Walmart fortune, among others.
     Other board members have ties to Goldman Sachs, private equity firms worth billions, and major brands like Macy’s and Royal Caribbean. None of the biographies published by Hyatt of current board members shows any having experience as a hotel worker.
     UNITE HERE says Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst employer in the hotel industry by abusing its housekeepers, replacing longtime employees with minimum wage temporary workers, and imposing health-threatening workloads on those who remain.
     In a first in the hotel industry, the federal government issued a letter to Hyatt earlier this year, warning the company of hazards their housekeepers face. Workers say that adding someone with recent guest experience to the board could reshape Hyatt’s staffing policies and improve Hyatt’s image.

Pat Barcas’ e-mail address is pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.