Unions gained ground in Bay State last year

Union representation rose significantly in Massachusetts last year and bucked an ongoing national decline, thanks in part to aggressive organizing in the health care and hospitality sectors.

The percentage of the state’s workforce represented by a union rose to 16.2 percent in 2012 from 15.4 percent in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, total union representation nationwide dropped to 12.5 percent in 2012, down from 13 percent in the previous year. The figures include union members as well as other people whose jobs are covered by unions.

Statement by D Taylor, UNITE HERE President, on comprehensive immigration reform

UNITE HERE is proud to stand with President Obama and the movement for equality for immigrant workers in our country. The hundreds of thousands of women and men who are our members and future members come from all over the United States and the world. Through the work they do every day–making beds, preparing food, cleaning rooms, washing dishes, serving travelers–they keep our economy moving and build stable lives for themselves and their families. Like all Americans, they hope for secure and happy lives for their children. And those who are immigrants dream of achieving citizenship so that they can be full and equal participants in our society.

It is time for a 21st century immigration system: one that recognizes the mobile, interconnected world in which we live. That new system must include a timely roadmap to citizenship for the millions of new Americans already contributing to our industries and communities every day.

The members of UNITE HERE will join the President, members of Congress, and our partners in the labor and immigrant movements to achieve that 21st century immigration system. We look forward to a time before long when the aspiring citizens in UNITE HERE and in our country will be welcomed as full and equal Americans.

Hotel workers struggling under new owner get their Thanksgiving turkeys after all

It’s bad news for workers when hotel management company HEI Hospitality buys a new hotel. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, HEI’s purchase of the former Hotel@MIT, which it turned into a Le Meridien, has left workers struggling not just with staffing cuts leading to heavy workloads, but with the loss of their Thanksgiving turkey. The hotel’s previous owners had always given workers a turkey as a Thanksgiving bonus; with HEI having done away with that practice, UNITE HERE Local 26, which is working with but doesn’t represent the Le Meridien workers, stepped in to fill the gap. “Tom the Turkey” distributed turkeys to hotel staff Monday afternoon, while making a run for most puns in a press statement ever:

 

LE MERIDIEN WORKERS CALL FOWL

Generous Gobbler to Prevent Thanksgiving Poultry Problem

CAMBRIDGE, MA – In a twist of fate, Tom the Turkey will be handing out dozens of holiday birds to hotel workers at the Le Meridien hotel in Cambridge on Monday, November 19 from 4-5pm. Current owners, HEI Hotels & Resorts, abandoned this act of caring that had long been a holiday mainstay at the hotel. Boston’s Local 26 stepped in to provide support.

“Le Meridien’s owners have groused about this meaningful tradition, to the point that they have carved it out completely,” said Tom. “They are using cut backs to make gravy and are stuffing their pockets. The new owners cannot continue to peck and scratch at the housekeepers, kitchen staff, and others – the workers who make a hotel run.”

The Cambridge City Council supports a boycott of the Le Meridien because workers must endure crushing workloads due to 30% workforce cutbacks initiated by the new owner. The Le Meridien owners rejected calls for a fair process for workers to decide on unionization. At Monday’s event, Tom the Turkey may even flip a bird to the owner.

WHO: Tom the Thanksgiving Turkey (person in turkey costume)

WHAT: Boston’s Local 26 giving Thanksgiving turkeys to hotel workers – bellboys, housekeepers, kitchen staff, others

WHERE: Le Meridien Hotel

20 Sidney Street

Cambridge, MA

WHEN: Monday, November 14, 4-5 pm

 

November 15, 2012
Media Advisory
Contact:   Steve Crawford
857-753-4132

 

Boycott revs up against hotel, where so far it’s ‘business as usual’

By Marc Levy
October 24, 2012

 

Le Méridien Hotel management said it’s feeling no impact from a boycott called by workers and city officials a little over a week ago, but a union official warns that it’s early yet.

Workers called Oct. 11 for a boycott of their own employer and appeared the next Monday before the City Council, where a ban on holding city events was affirmed unanimously by councillors. In addition to demanding such events as a biennial post-election celebration be moved from the 20 Sidney St. hotel, some also testified to putting a more personal stamp on their opposition to management’s practices, with vice mayor Denise Simmons saying she had stopped having tea at the hotel and councillor Tim Toomey saying he was telling people to take their business elsewhere.