Plan aims to protect guests from human trafficking, bed bugs and biohazards in Boston hotels

Plan aims to protect guests from human trafficking, bed bugs and biohazards in Boston hotels

BOSTON, MA—Today Boston City Council endorsed a plan to tackle the most common threats to hotel guest safety.

Boston Safe Hotels is a voluntary code of compliance. Participating hotels will offer tools, training, and staff time to protect hotel guests from pests and pathogens. It will also equip hotel workers to identify and respond to human trafficking in Boston hotels.

The plan is timely as a hotel in New York is being cited as a possible hotspot for Legionnaire’s disease. 12 people died and 113 have been infected.

“Boston hotels have an opportunity to show national leadership on hotel safety,” said Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley. “We want people who travel to Boston and stay in our hotels to know we’ve gone the extra mile to keep them safe.”

The plan is available at www.bostonsafehotels.org.

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For Immediate Release: August 12, 2015

Contact: Tiffany Ten Eyck, 313-515-1807, [email protected]

 

Boston Globe: Hilton Back Bay Workers Unionize

“Now they have the opportunity to sit down as equals with the hotel to negotiate on their wages, benefits, and working conditions,” Local 26 President Brian Lang said. “What’s great about this is this is a hotel company that is now committed to doing this in a collaborative and responsible way.

Back Bay Hilton Workers Join Local 26

Workers at the Boston Back Bay Hilton have joined UNITE HERE Local 26. An agreement was reached between the Hotel and Local 26 to voluntarily recognize the union.

The 390-room up-scale hotel is a fixture of Boston’s skyline with an attractive location in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

UNITE HERE Local 26 is a 7000-member union of hotel, food service, airport, and casino workers based in Boston.

Both parties look forward to productive dialogue in bargaining for a first union contract to cover wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Boston Globe: Wyndham hotel workers hold one-day strike

Workers at the downtown Wyndham Boston hotel are holding a one-day strike to protest an alleged lack of training and supplies to deal with medical waste left by hotel guests.

Today: Staff Strike Wyndham Boston Hotel Over Hazardous Working Conditions

STRIKE TODAY

Staff Strike Wyndham Boston Hotel Over Hazardous Working Conditions

Workers plan to attend and testify at investigative City Council hearing tonight

 BOSTON, MA—Employees of the Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill Hotel at 5 Blossom Street announced a one-day strike this morning effective 7am.

Workers at the hotel said they were not given adequate supplies or protective equipment to handle potentially infectious materials, including medical waste. The hotel advertises to area hospitals including Massachusetts General Hospital, which maintains an 8-bed sleep study at the hotel. MGH patients stay in the hotel while receiving treatment at the hospital.

Workers filed a complaint to OSHA in May, causing the agency to open an inspection that is ongoing.

Striking workers plan to attend and testify at a Boston City Council hearing tonight to share disturbing details of continued failure by hotel management to sufficiently protect staff while cleaning body fluids and materials that can cause transmission of disease.

“I am striking today because my employer has put me in danger,” said housekeeper Aura Berciano-Reyes. “I don’t want to risk my child becoming ill because I am not protected at work.”

Striking hotel workers will be available for interview today and will testify at the City Council hearing at 5pm at City Hall.

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For Immediate Release: June 25, 2015                                         

Contact: Tiffany Ten Eyck, 313-515-1807, [email protected]