|
|
 |
|
|
| Home | Ask Neale | Calendar | Links |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Support US hotel workers!!!Date: 25 October 2004
San Francisco City Hall politicians sat through four hours of sometimes searing testimony on Friday from hotel union workers locked out of 14 up-market San Francisco hotels. The city's political leaders have criticised the hotel owners for locking out their workers and for not responding to the Mayor's call for a cooling-off period, to see if new talks can bring as end to the dispute.
4,000 hotel workers locked out for a monthIn all, there are about 4,000 locked-out workers, members of UNITE-HERE, in a dispute which started nearly a month ago.Whatever the final settlement - and by all accounts there is none yet on the horizon - it will affect the fate of another 4,000 union workers at 46 other San Francisco hotels where negotiations have yet to commence.
Message of solidarity from AustraliaAlready the LHMU Hotel Union has sent a message of solidarity to these workers - pointing out that the hotel conglomerates are now global giants.The San Francisco hotel workers often have the same hotel employers as we do in Australia. A win for the hotel union members in San Francisco is a win for Australia.
Dispute spreading to Los Angeles and WashingtonMeanwhile in Los Angeles and Washington DC negotiations over a new employment agreement in these two big US cities have also faltered.The Los Angeles hotel union - who have seen their leaders arrested during demonstrations - has said they are prepared to organise boycotts against nine big city hotels if the talks don't start to see results soon.
Evidence given at San Francisco City HallBack at San Francisco's City Hall Ernest Bonner, a veteran cook, told the city politicians that he believes that the "minuscule'' pay raise being proposed to workers won't cover a hike in health care costs.Linda Knighten, also a cook, told City Hall she has just got a 60-day notice to vacate her house because she hasn't got the money to pay her rent. K.J. Landis, a cocktail waitress, held up her infant, introduced as the youngest picketer for Unite Here Local 2, who is with mom sometimes as late as midnight on the picket line.
Bosses refuse to turn up at City HallFriday's hearings at City Hall was called to assess the dispute's impact on the city but it was a one-sided affair. The employers, for the second time in a week, declined an invitation from City Hall politicians to appear to argue their case.The result was a lambasting of the San Francsico corporate hotel owners for continuing the lockout, and their decision not to agree to a 90-day cooling-off period called for by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Hotel bosses amongst the wealthiest fat cats in USAMarc Norton - a hotel worker in San Francisco - pointed out on his website blog how many hotel bosses register on the big business magazine, Forbes', annual list of the 400 richest people in the US.Think about it -- 400 people with the combined net worth of $US 1 trillion. " Any one of these guys is undoubtedly worth more than the combined net worth of the 4,000 hotel workers on the streets in San Francisco today," Marc Norton said.
Eleven members of family that runs Hyatt chain on the Rich 400 listEleven members of the family that runs the Hyatt chain, the Pritzker family. Are on the Forbes rich 400 list.. Here is the net worth of each of the Pritzkers:
$US 1.7 billion - Thomas Pritzker Hilton boss only just makes it into the Rich 400 listThe hotel worker, Marc Norton, asked: "These folks can't afford to pay their hotel workers' medical premiums? Or give them a raise of more than 20 cents per hour? Whoa, we wouldn't want to put them in the poorhouse."Also on the Forbes list is Paris Hilton's grandfather -- the esteemed William Barron Hilton, worth a bare $775 million, son of Hilton Hotels founder, Conrad Hilton. " Poor William just made it back onto the Forbes 400 list after a five-year absence. Let's not hit a guy just when he is getting back on his feet," Marc Norton said.
For further information
|
|
Privacy | Disclaimer | Sitemap |Feedback | Links |
|
© 1997-2002 LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW 10th Floor, 377-383 Sussex Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: (02) 9264 1691 Fax: (02) 9261 3505 http://www.labor.net.au/news/1098664200_8555.html Last Modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 18:35:04 EST
LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed |
   
|
