Sometimes pressure works: Hyatt guarantees jobs at same pay for laid-off housekeepers

Better - from the Hyatt; better and right action from Gov. Patrick (6.00 / 3)

AmberPaw will continue to monitor before making any further comments.  I still am displeased w/Hyatt and the amount of pressure and the public relations disaster it took to get this far - with Hyatt still calling the housekeepers...or someone else?  Who? liars "....many of the assertions that have been made are false."

I also suggest that any employees offered the chance to unionize do so.  Period.

Of note - not one penny given up by upper management as far as the eye can see.  They need not suffer if the economy is sour; just their dependent lower level staffers.

I don't regret one word I wrote here on BMG 9/21/09:  http://www.bluemassgroup.com/d...

Someone should post the details of what Hyatt did to persuade those housekeepers not to unionize not all that long ago...

Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

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by: AmberPaw @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 16:26:26 PM CDT

Second that (0.00 / 0)

Couldn't agree more with what AmberPaw posted above. Thanks to all who signed out petition at hyattboycott.com.  

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by: hyattboycott @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 17:15:43 PM CDT

This is terrific (6.00 / 1)

But....I would imagine tricks like this are happening all over the country.   One of the reasons we are losing the middle class,  these people have to start all over and with that are now in the 300% of poverty level or less or slightly higher (which is worse).  Long time employess are getting laid off, then replaced with lower payed newbies.

And that's the business model for keeping those corporate billion dollar profits a constant.

I am totally thrilled that the Governor did this.  Of course, you only have a few of those "do this or else" cards available before they lose their punch.  I think using one for this circumstance was a good call.  It shows that he is paying attention, pops outside of the bubble once in while, is distressed by what he sees, and won't put up with it.  Almost makes me feel like he has our backs. Don't usually feel that in today's government atmosphere.

Thank You Governor Patrick!

WE NEED A PUBLIC OPTION

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by: liveandletlive @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 17:53:53 PM CDT

I think the Governor's action had an effect beyond the State's usage (6.00 / 1)

of hotels.  It made many others realize it is time to draw a line in the sand, and they did.  Hyatt had no alternative but to make better arrangements.

But, I don't think they are doing enough, not for me, not by a long shot.  They had a group of dedicated, long term workers, and now they outsource that work to a company who hires as needed.  Who would you trust in your hotel room while you were at dinner?

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by: JoeS @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 18:52:01 PM CDT

"Oops, our bad" doesn't cut it. (6.00 / 7)

Let's face it -- this move is cheap and face-saving for Hyatt-- it is NOT giving these hard-working folks their Hyatt jobs back. It's essentially a promise of a short-term stipend for 14 months or so. They lose the opportunity to receive access to Hyatt's retirement program and other employee benefits which a corporation of Hyatt's size and scope provides. They've lost their seniority and are starting at the bottom for the purposes of choosing shifts and vesting -- if this "affiliate of United Service Companies" offers anything to vest in.

I hope that Deval steps up and does the right thing again -- and says "not good enough."

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by: MetroWest Dem @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 20:37:57 PM CDT

It is cheap, don't know about face saving (0.00 / 0)

They've already blown it. Although it's not as good as getting their original jobs back, at least it's a little support for those who were affected.  More than others will get who have this same shameless thing done to them.

Wonder what's going to happen in 2010 when the salary guarantee expires.  Have no clue what they make now, but it could be a substatial cut.  Then what will happen, who knows?  And will we even hear about it?


WE NEED A PUBLIC OPTION

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by: liveandletlive @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 21:29:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fair enough (6.00 / 1)

How much face can you save when it's covered in egg?

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by: MetroWest Dem @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 13:53:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

6 sixes for you (6.00 / 1)

They lose the opportunity to receive access to Hyatt's retirement program and other employee benefits which a corporation of Hyatt's size and scope provides. They've lost their seniority and are starting at the bottom for the purposes of choosing shifts and vesting -- if this "affiliate of United Service Companies" offers anything to vest in.

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by: Judy Meredith @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 07:27:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Globe's editorial is.... unfortunate. (6.00 / 6)

First, I wonder if Hyatt has ever run an ad in the Globe or NYT? It's times like these that I think advertising as a means to prop up journalism can fail; news companies don't want to come out too strongly against potential clients. Don't want to stir the pot too much, from their perspective.

This really bugs me, though:

Private individuals may opt to spend their tourism or business dollars with hotels that show greater commitment to the in-house cleaning crews who play a central role in upholding standards of neatness and sanitation. But the governor should not be making that decision with public dollars. His threat to boycott Hyatt - which he claims is aimed at the hotel chain's unusually poor treatment of the workers, rather than opposition to outsourcing in general - nonetheless puts the state in the position of passing judgment on banks, construction companies, food service providers, and a range of other potential contractors on an equally large range of labor practices.

Sorry, Globe, the Gov was absolutely right -- and he'd have been right to do the same thing if it were a construction company or bank, too. Those employees were Massachusetts citizens and the Governor protected them -- sometimes that can be more important than a few dollars and cents.

If there are companies that are practicing horrible business practices toward their employees (or costumers), then the state should use their influence to make changes. We don't always have to go through the long sausage-making process of changing the law in ways that would be difficult to define. So, if a Governor sees a hotel use its employees to train their replacements, then dump them on the street -- we should absolutely make the threat Governor Patrick made. Same thing with a bank or construction company. If it would be more costly to piss our state off to a company than treat workers or consumers poorly, we should add that extra incentive to these companies to do the right thing.

Jobs are continually outsourced and companies are routinely anti-union -- even if they're already profitable. Plenty of profitable companies have already done what Hyatt did. It's hard to legislate against that or prevent it. Individual consumers aren't really big enough alone to create a big enough threat to make changes the vast majority of the time. A big party, such as a state government, has that muscle and could potentially cost a company more through a boycott of any extended duration than retaining the slightly more expensive, good union jobs.  

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My thoughts are mine and mine alone. They should not be considered representative of any other organization, group or person - save me.

~Ryan.

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by: Ryepower12 @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 20:47:26 PM CDT

Besides, I don't want underpaid, "fly by night" employees around my stuff (6.00 / 4)

Those long term house cleaners had shown they were capable of being trusted around other people's possessions.  This DOES make a difference to me, and at this point, I no longer have a sense of safety and security with regard to Hyatt and the amount of "due diligence" I plan to routinely use about facilities and accommodations has become more extensive.

So, yes it IS about fairness - and the fact that removing one fat cat at the top probably would have saved more money than throwing all these loyal employees on the scrap heap - but also Hyatt has been degraded and cheapened in my estimation.

Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

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by: AmberPaw @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 21:22:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

that's actually a really good point (6.00 / 2)

wished I had thought of that!

There is much more incentive to keep a job when you have a decent salary and health benefits...

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My thoughts are mine and mine alone. They should not be considered representative of any other organization, group or person - save me.

~Ryan.

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by: Ryepower12 @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 03:24:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

A glorified severance package (6.00 / 7)

These people aren't getting their jobs back.  They're getting six months of healthcare and a little more than a year's worth of severance -- which they will have to work for -- while they look for another job.

I'm going to continue to boycott Hyatt until they actually get their jobs back.  That's the only acceptable solution.

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by: hockeyrules @ Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 22:07:02 PM CDT

that was my first impression, too (6.00 / 1)

it helps take some of the sting away from the bad press and helps limit the damage in terms of lost costumers, including from this state's government.

Not only did those people lose their jobs, but those good jobs are now gone forever. 10 years from now, Hyatt will still be paying their housekeepers half of what the union jobs were getting, probably with no (or much worse) benefits, too.

So, yes, I'm glad we could help these people -- and I'm glad Deval Patrick was able to do something about this situation -- but it is just a band aid. I would not at all be sad if the Governor decided to insist the boycott was on until Hyatt brought back the old jobs and kept it unionized.  

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My thoughts are mine and mine alone. They should not be considered representative of any other organization, group or person - save me.

~Ryan.

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by: Ryepower12 @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 03:28:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They nwere not unionized - Hyatt matched union rates and bennies to avoid being unionized... (5.67 / 3)

...and has been hostile to organizing, to put it mildly.  And yes, those decent jobs are "gone for ever" - as is any trust I had in Hyatt facilities or anyone involved in Hyatt upper management.

The outsourced provider isn't providing decent jobs - the Georgia company [pays fifty cents over minimum wages.  It does not provide ANY benefits, no sick time, no vacation, not even any guarantee of CORI checks or the same person cleaning next week at the Hyatt!

At $15 an hour, with decades of proving their honesty and reliability, those house cleaner had decent jobs and gave honorable service.  Unfortunately the current management of the Hyatt doesn't value "decent or honorable" and thinks everyone beneath them deserves nothing and must be a sucker.

And, again, the CEO is paid SIX MILLION and did not even give up a cup of tea - does Hyatt think you and I are STUPID and don't care either about people, who who can go through our suitcases when we aren't there?  And as for the number of upper management whose pay is in the millions, and the echelon just below them who take bonuses in the hundreds of thousands as their due - nauseating.  I doubt that these self-important elites ever put in a day of work as valuable as what those decent, honest, loyal hard working housekeepers did.

But then the Hyatt guy probably has a valet to travel with him, and only stays in Presidential Suites and really believes he is better than the rest of us.  

Yuck.

Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

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by: AmberPaw @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 07:21:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Excellent, What they really needed was a union. (0.00 / 0)

They were not unionized - Hyatt matched union rates and bennies to avoid being unionized.

And they didn't even match the bennies they had.

It's a "soft landing" anyway  

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by: Judy Meredith @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 07:35:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

More on What they really needed was a union ... (5.00 / 1)

The Herald has a pretty good story and a great picture of a big union
action in Chicago at Hyatt Hdqrs  

But Unite Here Local 26, the union representing hotel workers, blasted Hyatt's proposed resolution, calling it a "smokescreen designed to trick people into thinking Hyatt is doing the right thing."

Hyatt also offered to extend health-care benefits until March 31, 2010, for housekeepers who accept the positions. They then would have the option of obtaining benefits through United Service.

"It does not provide the women with the one thing they really deserve," Local 26 president Janice Loux said in a statement. "These women have made it clear that they want to be returned to the jobs they have held for years."

And our own Chamber of Commerce, careful not to support any displaced worker, at least tries to evade disruption (gasp) to participants in their forum.

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce relocated a financial services forum scheduled at the Hyatt Regency Boston next Friday to the Four Seasons to "mitigate any potential disruption" to its members. It hasn't taken an official position on the matter.

And they'll still need a union to protect these 100 workers from getting harassed and fired for not being appropriately grateful and maybe (gasp,gasp) trying to organize a union.  

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by: Judy Meredith @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 13:49:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is where HR assures management goals. (5.67 / 3)

I would be surprised if any of the original housekeepers make it to the end of the year with Hyatt.  Once the spotlight is out the 1001 ways an employer can make work life unbearable for the employee will start.  

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by: Howland Lew Natick @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 16:50:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hyatt (0.00 / 0)

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the internal Hyatt discussions over this issue following the Governor's statement. The sharp distinction between Hyatt's original firing-back-at-the-Governor response and its current position suggest that there was quite an internal battle going on in Hyatt boardrooms.

In any case, this situation indicates more generally the importance (and necessity) of direct government pressure on corporations if one hopes to actually change anything. It's quite similar to several banks' very recent softening of their highly questionable overdraft practices, which came only after the threat (from Barney Frank and others) of more severe regulations if banks refused to act.

Different issues, to be sure, but both go to show that without direct government pressure, many corporations will keep pushing the envelope of what they can get away with at the expense of consumers and workers.

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by: Hoyapaul @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 12:30:00 PM CDT

FWIW, a major Hyatt executive is linked to the White House (0.00 / 0)

Penny Pritzker is one of THE Pritzkers that own Hyatt. She's the president of Classic Residences by Hyatt, which owns and operates assisted living facilities. She was Obama's national financial chair in the campaign, and now is on his Economic Advisory Council. http://www.penny-pritzker.com/...

I wonder if anyone has dropped a dime to the White House about this....

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by: MetroWest Dem @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 13:52:13 PM CDT

"Linked" is an understatement. (6.00 / 3)

Pritzker has been a top player on team Obama from the word go, having chaired his campaign finance committee.

She is a member of the Presidents Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

She sits on Hyatt's Board of Directors.

She opposes the Employee Free Choice Act.

And she refused to hear out one of the fired workers this week.

She deserves to be publicly shamed by Obama and removed from PERAB. End of story.

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by: JeremyBThompson @ Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 08:00:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

NO ONE can convince me Hyatt Corporation would go under if housekeepers continued to earn $15.00 an hour (0.00 / 0)

Adam Smith's theory of capitolism, Wealth of Nations presumed morality, that the strong would care for the weak, and that a reasonable level, as opposed to an obsene level of profits would be the result of capitalism.

Unfortunately, far too many CEOs and CFOs seem to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder and forget that in a real sense they are their brother's keeper.

When wealth is concentrated beyond a certain percentage and degree,  there are insufficient consumers with sufficient disposable income for capitalism to work.

Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

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by: AmberPaw @ Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 18:20:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Brother's Keeper (0.00 / 0)

They commit only to keeping their brother serving them.  The keep their brother like a "kept woman."  The keep them the way plantations kept THEIR workers.

Presuming morality is, what, merely incredibly naive?  Or worse.

"Metaphors be with you."  Yoda to Robert Frost

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by: pablophil @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 07:21:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They still don't get it (6.00 / 2)

Yes, people are upset about how they treat their workers, but the other issue is that Hyatt is lowering the quality of their housekeeping services. Apparently they are committed to providing a lower quality product to their customers. That sends a clear message to me that I don't want to be staying with them.

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by: HR's Kevin @ Sat Sep 26, 2009 at 13:59:58 PM CDT

Can't Wait (6.00 / 1)

for a photo of the governor, meeting with the families of the people with profound and severe mental retardation, with serious physical handicaps, being evicted from their homes at Fernald.  I hope he puts the same amount of pressure on Bixby and Howe to reverse those "policies" due to the extreme stress and harm that will be inflicted.  

"The world was made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness." ~Annie Savoy, Bull Durham

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by: Justice4All @ Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 13:05:25 PM CDT

Good, I wish them luck finding a job in this economy. (0.00 / 0)

Seventy-seven of the 98 fired Hyatt housekeepers met for two hours today at the Unite Here Local 26 union office and came to the unanimous decision that they would not accept the Hyatt Hotel Corp.'s offer to place them in jobs with a staffing organization.

Baker/Tisei in 2010... Charlie Baker on why people "have been" leaving MA, "It's not the weather here, it's the climate"

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by: JohnD @ Mon Sep 28, 2009 at 18:22:30 PM CDT