Hotel Workers at W Boston Join Local 26

Employees of the W Boston and the Back Bay Hotel have overwhelmingly voted to unionize, bringing the number of organized workers at Boston hotels to about 4,000, roughly 60 percent of all full-service hotel workers.

Around 200 housekeepers, bellhops, restaurant staff, valets, and maintenance workers at the two hotels are now members of UNITE HERE Local 26, the Boston division of the national hospitality workers union. Union officials said membership gives the workers a pension plan, low-cost health insurance, and a limit on the number of rooms they have to clean every day.

Harvard and Yale Food Service Workers Unite!

Harvard’s 550 food service workers are fighting for Sustainable Jobs.  For the first time they have  joined forces with Yale’s food service workers.

Like many university food service workers Harvard’s dining hall employees are on layoff four months a year.  Bylaw university employees can’t collect unemployment.  And even though wages have increased, between 2010 and 2009, the average worker saw pay decrease by almost $900 because Harvard cut 50,000 hours of work.

Workers and students are fighting back, and demanding that the University produce food onsite from whole ingredients instead of shipping in packaged and preserved foods.  Food produced at the University will be better food and will create better jobs.  Harvard Local 26 shop stewards and students recently traveled to Yale to meet with UNITE HERE Local 35 leaders and Yale students.  Through years of struggle and strikes, the Yale workers have won Sustainable Food and Sustainable Jobs including:

  • Guaranteed work 12 months out of the year at their regular wages
  • No subcontracting of food preparation, and
  • Real worker, student and administration collaboration to create the healthiest food produced in the most environmentally responsible way.

Harvard and Yale Union members and students will all be together again on Thursday, May 12, 8pm for a rally at 1st Parish Church in Cambridge (1 Church St. at Mass Ave).  All Local 26 members are invited!

Employees at W Boston, Back Bay Hotel vote to unionize

Employees of the W Boston and the Back Bay Hotel have overwhelmingly voted to unionize, bringing the number of organized workers at Boston hotels to about 4,000, roughly 60 percent of all full-service hotel workers.

Around 200 housekeepers, bellhops, restaurant staff, valets, and maintenance workers at the two hotels are now members of Unite Here Local 26, the Boston division of the national hospitality workers union. Union officials said membership gives the workers a pension plan, low-cost health insurance, and a limit on the number of rooms they have to clean every day.

“It equalizes the playing field for hotels, and it gives workers the ability to question management without fear of retribution,’’ said Brian Lang, president of Local 26.

Nestor Garcia, 41, a food runner in the W Boston’s restaurant and a veteran of several steelworkers unions, helped organize the vote at the W. Garcia said his weekly health insurance bill will drop from $106 to $12, and his wages will increase 90 cents an hour by January. And the ability to file grievances will improve employees’ relationship with management, he said.

“If there is any doubt that we are hard workers, Local 26 will make it disappear,’’ Garcia said.

The Back Bay Hotel employees were previously unionized, but in 2006 they voted to disband the union, by a single vote. Local 26 appealed, saying pressure from hotel management and handbook rules restricting union activity tainted the election, and the National Labor Relations Board ordered a new election. There is still a hostile relationship between the union and the hotel, according to Lang, who said management also tried to interfere with the vote held earlier this month.

Back Bay Hotel general manager Mark Roche-Garland declined to comment on the elections. The hotel, formerly called Jurys Boston Hotel, is owned by the Dublin-based Doyle Collection.

The W Boston is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which operates four other unionized hotels in Boston. Starwood and W Hotel officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Hospitality workers’ interest in unionizing has grown since Hyatt Hotels Corp. fired 98 nonunion staff members at its three Boston-area hotels in the summer of 2009, replacing them with contract workers earning half as much. “For workers to stand up and decide they’re going to form a union, it is an act of courage,’’ Lang said.

The percentage of Boston hospitality workers in unions has increased from 42 percent in 1998 to 61 percent today, Lang said. Nationwide, overall union membership has decreased from 24 percent of all workers in 1973 to 12 percent last year, according to Unionstats.com, a website run by two economics professors, from Georgia State University and Trinity University. Among US hotel employees, the percentage of union membership is just over 8 percent.

Dining Hall Workers Rally in The Yard

Harvard dining hall workers, students and Unite HERE members from across New England marched through the Yard Thursday night holding signs and chanting “we want justice” and “union power.”

The march ended in the area outside of the Holyoke Center where the crowd sung a version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” with lyrics adapted for the union.

As the marchers traveled through the yard swinging colorful glow sticks, accompanied by a union-led band, they picked up a number of spectators and drew some students to watch from the sidelines.

Earlier that day, University officials met with members of Unite HERE Local 26—the union that represents Harvard dining hall workers—as part of their contract renegotiations.

Union leadership offered few details about the nature of the negotiations and the University declined to comment late Thursday night.

Members of the Yale dining hall workers’ chapter of Unite HERE also met with University officials in that meeting.

Following that meeting, the union members met with student supporters in First Parish Church before kicking off the rally.

At the church, the two school’s unions discussed the differences in their contracts.

Harvard and Yale workers said they want many of the elements contained in the Yale workers’ contracts to be included in the newest contract for the Harvard dining hall workers, including full-time employment, more job training opportunities for workers, and increased job security.

“In New Haven, we have a source of inspiration,” said Unite HERE Local 26 president Brian Lang, who called five Yale workers up to the stage.

The Yale workers proceeded to discuss the struggle they endured before obtaining their current contract, including 11 strikes. The speakers said their struggle was ultimately worth the pay-off.

“We stand here today with full-time employment. We stand here with no lay-off language—period. We stand here with 100 percent free medical,” said Robert “Bob” Proto, president of Unite HERE Local 35, which represents Yale dining hall workers. “There’s a standard of quality of jobs that Harvard needs to raise up to Yale’s.”

Lang said that the Yale workers made a presentation to Harvard officials during the negotiations earlier in the day Thursday and that the Yale workers presented some “very concrete solutions to the problems we’ve been facing.”

Harvard dining hall workers also spoke during the First Parish Church meeting, saying that they are fighting for a contract that benefits the entire University.

Harvard dining hall workers, students and Unite HERE members from across New England marched through the Yard Thursday night holding signs and chanting “we want justice” and “union power.”

The march ended in the area outside of the Holyoke Center where the crowd sung a version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” with lyrics adapted for the union.

As the marchers traveled through the yard swinging colorful glow sticks, accompanied by a union-led band, they picked up a number of spectators and drew some students to watch from the sidelines.

Earlier that day, University officials met with members of Unite HERE Local 26—the union that represents Harvard dining hall workers—as part of their contract renegotiations.

Union leadership offered few details about the nature of the negotiations and the University declined to comment late Thursday night.

Members of the Yale dining hall workers’ chapter of Unite HERE also met with University officials in that meeting.

Following that meeting, the union members met with student supporters in First Parish Church before kicking off the rally.

At the church, the two school’s unions discussed the differences in their contracts.

Harvard and Yale workers said they want many of the elements contained in the Yale workers’ contracts to be included in the newest contract for the Harvard dining hall workers, including full-time employment, more job training opportunities for workers, and increased job security.

“In New Haven, we have a source of inspiration,” said Unite HERE Local 26 president Brian Lang, who called five Yale workers up to the stage.

The Yale workers proceeded to discuss the struggle they endured before obtaining their current contract, including 11 strikes. The speakers said their struggle was ultimately worth the pay-off.

“We stand here today with full-time employment. We stand here with no lay-off language—period. We stand here with 100 percent free medical,” said Robert “Bob” Proto, president of Unite HERE Local 35, which represents Yale dining hall workers. “There’s a standard of quality of jobs that Harvard needs to raise up to Yale’s.”

Lang said that the Yale workers made a presentation to Harvard officials during the negotiations earlier in the day Thursday and that the Yale workers presented some “very concrete solutions to the problems we’ve been facing.”

Harvard dining hall workers also spoke during the First Parish Church meeting, saying that they are fighting for a contract that benefits the entire University.

“We’re here tonight to make life better for everybody,” said Ed Childs, a chef in Adams House and a union official. “The problem is there are some people on the other side who do not want to make life better. But we intend to win because we intend to be united, workers, students, and faculty.”

Childs then proceeded to grab the hands of a student and a worker and raised them high, a symbol that would be repeated throughout the night, and drew thunderous applause from the audience.

Students also expressed support for the dining hall workers.

Undergraduate Council president Senan Ebrahim ’12 spoke about the symbiotic relationship between students and dining hall workers.

“Every time I’ve been in a dining hall, workers have had my back,” Ebrahim said. “Now, it’s our turn.”

SLAM member Naimonu A. James ’14 received a standing ovation from the energized attendees when she expressed SLAM’s dedication to the workers’ cause. With over 50 students standing behind her, James said, “No matter what this takes or how long it takes, we’re going to get this done, and we’re going to get each other through it.”

Standing up for Our Rights

On May 1 my daughter and I joined Local 26 members and their families to march for immigrants rights. Since 2006, immigrant communities have been holding yearly marches in their search for better protections at work, and an end to discrimination. We marched to show that we are organized and that we are not afraid.

We also marched to make it clear that we will never stop fighting bosses that abuse us. We are still fighting Hyatt, a hotel chain that fired and subcontracted all of their housekeepers in Boston. Hyatt might have thought they could get away with hurting immigrant workers without a union. They must know now that Boston hotel workers are united and we will not stand by while others are mistreated.

I was proud to see our members at the march. We come from all over the world, and together we are changing the way Boston works. We have fought for and won contract protection that makes sure our bosses can’t discriminate against immigrant workers. We continue to stand up for our rights; making Boston-area hotels, stadiums, restaurants, and dining halls better places to work for all of us.

–Brian Lang, President of Local 26