For immediate release

Contact: Valerie Dugale, 647-225-3685

No "jobless recovery!"
Hotel workers call on industry to counter recession by investing in workers

Toronto, ON 10/11/09

Toronto hotel workers today called on the industry to invest in a skilled workforce instead of using the economic recession as an excuse to lower the living standards of working families. They were joined by one of the now famous “Hyatt 100,” non-union Boston housekeepers who were abruptly fired and replaced with agency workers in a move that has drawn condemnation across the U.S., including the Massachusetts Governor, the Harvard Business Review and Boston Globe.

“There are two roads out of this recession,” said Habtom Ogbamichael, a banquet server at the Sheraton Centre.  “There’s the low road in which hotels can try to cut our hours, cut benefits, combine jobs and jeopardize our safety. Or there’s the high road, where they can invest in training and good jobs, like Las Vegas has done, to strengthen the tourism sector.”

Former Boston Hyatt housekeeper Lucine Williams, came with a message for Toronto. “When Hyatt fired us, we didn’t have the protection of a union.  In Boston, Hyatt started a race to the bottom. The workers replacing us were making about half our wages and had no benefits. This has destroyed our livelihoods and made our families and communities suffer. This kind of behaviour creates a bigger gap between the rich and the poor. Is that how you want Toronto to go?

In recognizing November 10th as International Hotel Workers Day, Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone stated that tourism is a $2.2 billion industry in Toronto employing over 30,000 workers and creating nearly 700 million dollars in tax revenue. “Hotel and hospitality workers are a key part in delivering quality services to those visiting our city. As a workforce of mainly immigrants, women and people of colour, our city and neighbourhoods are strengthened when these workers have decent jobs and benefits.”

“As hotel workers, we’re proud of what we do and our commitment to the city doesn’t just stop with providing quality services,” said Cicely Philipps, a room attendant at the Royal York Hotel. “We just launched a campaign to have more employers provide subsidized TTC metro passes to city workers. We’ve begun training initiatives with several hotels and we’re going to open a downtown training centre next spring.”

In 2006 UNITE HERE Local 75 asked a task force of hotel industry experts to examine how a high road partnership with hotels can build an economy based on skills, innovation and sustainability, avoiding low-road practices that lower living and working standards. That process led to a comprehensive report, Industry at a Crossroads, which contains recommendations including training and equal opportunity initiatives, safe workloads and balanced lives.

Unite Here Local 75 represents over 7000 hotel, hospitality and gaming workers in the Greater Toronto Area.  For more information, please visit www.uniteherelocal75.org.

Toronto Sun, November 5, 2009

Don Peat

Hotel workers rallied inside One King West Hotel yesterday to encourage other city hotels to help their staff get on board the TTC.

Unite Here, Local 75, celebrated One King West agreeing to offer an employer-subsidized TTC Metropass to its workers yesterday by joining with the employer to call on other businesses to provide transit benefits. Under a volume incentive program, employers can buy Metropasses -- $109 a month -- over a one-year term at discount of up to 12%.

Hotel general manager Steve O'Brien said the decision was good for employees, tourism and the city.

"We're challenging other businesses to get on board because a strong transit system means less traffic and less pollution, and that's good for business," he said.

Read more.

The Record, August 25, 2009

About a dozen workers at the Delta hotel in downtown Kitchener held an information picket Monday to back demands for improvements to wages and workload, and the creation of a pension plan.  About 50 members of Local 75 of Unite Here, including room attendants, restaurant servcers and maintenance staff have been without a contract since November 30.

For immediate release

Contact: Nadia Baer; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Storm brewing at the Four Points by Sheraton Meadowvale Hotel
Hotel Workers in Mississauga Rally for Fair Contract as Negotiations Stall

Mississauga, ON 22/7/09

At 4:00 PM today, workers at the Four Points by Sheraton Meadowvale, at 2501 Argentia Dr., did not head home.  Instead, they congregated outside the hotel, donned picket signs, and began an informational picket.

Workers at the Four Points by Sheraton Meadowvale have been bargaining since November 2008.  They have a straightforward goal: to achieve the same standard in wages and benefits as other UNITE HERE Local 75 hotel workers have, across the Airport Area and Mississauga.  After workers rejected the last company offer by a 98% margin in June, contract negotiations have stalled. 

“As workers, we have done more than our share in making this hotel a success,” explained Georgia Coley, a room attendant at the hotel and a member of the bargaining committee.  “You have to understand that when this hotel was undergoing renovations during the last contract, we tightened our belts. We accepted a one-year wage freeze and even paid a portion of our health benefits.  At the very least we need to see our wages and benefits catch up to other Local 75 hotels in the market.”  

Currently, the Room Attendants at the Four Points by Sheraton Meadowvale earn $11.80 per hour, while room attendants in the other UNITE HERE Local 75 full service hotels in the Airport and Mississauga areas earn at least $14 to $15 per hour and do not pay any premium for their medical benefits. 

Last summer, UNITE HERE Local 75 members at two airport hotels succeeded in winning the same contract standards after staging two days of action.

The Four Points Meadowvale is owned by the Silver Hotel Group, a privately held company The Silver Hotel Group has recently added two new hotels in the Toronto region to its portfolio.

UNITE HERE Local 75 is a part of an international labour union that has been fighting to raise standards for hotel workers and other service sector workers across the GTA and North America.  The majority of UNITE HERE Local 75 members are women and new Canadians.