Thank you Harvard alumni and Boston City Council President Michelle Wu for standing with employees of the Harvard Club of Boston last week.
Harvard and Ivy League alumni are needed to show support for workers who serve alumni at the Club. Sign today.
Boston City Council President Michelle Wu stands with Harvard Club of Boston employees Juan Carlos Galdamez, Vidal Arevelo, Julio Rodriquez, and Manuel Lazo.
Workers at the Wyndham hotel located across the street from Massachusetts General Hospital have been public with demands for stronger protection while cleaning rooms used by hospital patients.
The hotel settled with the National Labor Relations Board in December over worker complaints they’d faced surveillance and were offered money and benefits to stop organizing.
Rabbi Barbara Penzner of the Temple Hillel B’nai Torah synagogue, Father Philip C. Jacobs, and a representative of Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley returned to the Boston Wyndham hotel Thursday to speak with management about these concerns.
The hotel also faces proposed fines of $12,000 from OSHA for alleged violations related to worker safety.
The hotel is owned by Felcor, a Houston, Texas-based real estate investment trust. 
Members of on-campus activist organization Student Labor Action Movement joined UNITE HERE Local 26 members to rally outside the Harvard Club of Boston on Thursday evening in protest of proposed changes to employee health care plans, which they say would raise out-of-pocket costs for employees. Local 26 serves Boston’s hotel and food service workers and represents Harvard Club staff.
Workers say not enough has been fixed at hotel after high-profile campaign
BOSTON, MA—Hotel staff of the Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill Hotel will protest tonight in a continued effort to rid the hotel of health hazards. They will be joined by 400 supporters. MGH maintains an 8-bed sleep study in the hotel.
Workers will wear disposable suits that prevent the transmission of bloodborne pathogens. These are an example of the kinds of supplies that should be given to workers to handle potentially infectious materials such as blood, vomit, feces, and needles.
OSHA opened an inspection of the hotel in May 2015. This week workers submitted further evidence to the agency supporting their allegations of hazardous working conditions related to bloody materials, needles, and other medical waste. Workers also allege lacking information about the waste they clean and dispose of from the MGH sleep study inside the hotel.
In July, the hotel hired a temporary agency to clean hotel rooms. Workers said they are concerned temporary staff are not given enough training and that the hotel is going in the wrong direction.
WHAT: Wyndham hotel employees to demonstrate in hazmat suits to illustrate hotel’s continued failure to keep workers safe
WHEN: Wednesday, September 9, 5:30pm
WHERE: Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill hotel, 5 Blossom St, Corner of Cambridge St and Blossom St. Across from MGH.
WHO: 500 people picketing and chanting including hotel workers in uniform, union members in t-shirts, and nurses in scrubs
VISUALS: hotel workers in biohazard gear including blood-spill gown, face covering, and blue gloves
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“We Spoke Up. They’re Not Listening.”
Workers at the Wyndham hotel in Boston clean rooms for Massachusetts General Hospital patients. They filed an OSHA complaint because they cleaned blood, vomit, feces, and needles without enough training and protection. They went on strike June 25, 2015 and they testified at Boston City Council that they were afraid for their safety at work.
Wyndham is going in the wrong direction. Two weeks later—with an OSHA inspection ongoing—the hotel made workers train temporary staff on how to do their jobs. Now temporary workers are cleaning hotel rooms where hospital patients have stayed.
Workers are worried that temporary staff do not have enough training to do their jobs safely, and may ultimately become replacement workers.
Workers spoke up. Wyndham’s not listening. Share this video to make sure they do: