Ryan Hosler photo
Members of UNITE HERE are led away by Chicago police officers after they sat in the middle of Lower Wacker Drive. The protestors were blocking traffic during rush hour in a peaceful civil disobedience action.

By Jennifer Rice
Staff Writer

In a show of union solidarity, hundreds of unionized hotel workers in the U.S. and Canada staged a sit-in last week in front of Hyatt hotels in protest of Hyatt staff cuts and working conditions.
Facing layoffs and cutbacks, thousands of workers in 15 cites across the U.S. and Canada jointly participated July 22 in an act of civil disobedience. In Chicago, workers sat in the street in front of Hyatt Regency Chicago on Lower Wacker Drive, protesting the hotel while hundreds more carried signs and shouted words of support.
In the end, 25 people of the 185 were arrested. The rest left peacefully. According to officials, the relatively low arrest total was intended as a courtesy to Central District police officers in honor of slain Chicago police officer Michael Bailey, whose wake was held the same day as the sit-in.
According to UNITE HERE Local 1, which represents about 6,500 downtown hotel employees, the employees have been without a labor contract since Aug. 31, 2009. UNITE HERE spokeswoman Annemarie Strassel said last week’s Chicago protest regarded the frustration at the bargaining table and the frustration of workers.
“It’s also about many, many months of layoffs, staff cuts and reduced hours which leave fewer and fewer workers to provide services to guests,” Strassel explained. “Now that business is coming back very strong, workers feel they are doing the job of two workers,” she added.
One such worker at Chicago’s Hyatt protest was Tiffany Pollum, 34. She’s been employed in housekeeping for five years with the Hyatt Regency Chicago and wanted to be a part of the protest.
“I wanted to stand up in front of this company and let them know we stand up for our rights. We want to work, but we want them to be fair, respect us and treat us with dignity. It’s not about [a paycheck]. It’s way bigger than that,” Pollum explained. “When I first came here, [Hyatt] was more personable. But over the years, it has changed.”
Pollum is solely responsible for cleaning 16 rooms a day, with two beds per room. There are three housekeepers per floor. She explained how a recent, 1,000 room renovation of Hyatt Regency Chicago’s west tower increased cleaning time due to larger rooms. It also lead to injuries for employees due to heavier beds.
“The beds are six pounds heavier. They installed stand up showers with walls and glass from floor to ceilings. There are very wide mirrors. This all takes longer to clean rooms, but you’re still expected to do your 16 rooms a day,” Pollum explained. “But the biggest thing is the beds. With the lifting and tucking, it hurts your back.”
Hyatt Regency Chicago counters housekeeping’s claims of heavier beds. In fact, it said it went back to the manufacturer and found the mattresses were 10 pounds lighter than the old mattresses.

Ryan Hosler photo
UNITE HERE protestors lock arms across Wacker Drive in Chicago on July 22 in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

“But [employees] were still complaining they were hurting their backs,” said Vice President and Managing Director of Hyatt Regency Chicago, John Schafer. “So we brought in an occupational therapist. We followed [employees] around for two weeks and tried to measure things we could do differently, to help them to be able to do their job better without getting hurt,” Schafer said.
Hyatt is being painted as the, “big, bad employer that is trying to hold our employees down in poverty, but that’s not the case,” Schafer said.
An entry level employee, with no previous experience, no education necessary, comes in making $15 an hour, Schaefer explained. “Plus, there is another package of benefits worth about $20,000. So for an entry-level person—and God bless them, they are worth every penny of it—is making a package worth $50,000,” Schafer said. “That package includes free health care, free pension, free meals, uniforms, paid vacations and education benefits.
“Now that’s pretty good,” Schafer said. “It’s in our best interest to have people who care, feel like they are well-paid, taken care of and enjoy coming to work. And that’s our goal.”
Hyatt officials explained the union wants to put on the table a package for the next three years that rolls up to a 40-percent increase. Schafer said that’s not realistic, “especially in the worst economy we’ve seen in our lifetime.” Hyatt Regency Chicago agrees it is doing well financially. But it is all relative, Schafer said.
From 2008 to 2009, the Chicago market saw a 25-percent decrease in revenue. For 2010, the Chicago market is doing better than last year, but not 25-percent better. “It might take us a couple of years to get it back to where we were in years past,” Schafer said.
Both sides are not schedule to meet again until September. They last met in June. What happens between now and then? Not much, Schafer said. “Although the union states it wants to get a deal, it’s not like we’ve spent 24 hours in a meeting room trying to hammer something out. So if we wanted to put an end to this, we could be doing better things than laying out in the street,” Schafer said.
Strassel said the hotel industry as a whole is expected to rebound in 2011 and become even stronger in 2012. “Yet, what we’re seeing, in terms of contract proposals and non-union working conditions, it keeps getting worse in an effort by companies like Hyatt to lock workers into the rest of the recession for years to come and it’s frustrating,” she added.

Jennifer Rice’s e-mail address is Jen@foxvalleylabornews.com.