Opinion

Union's global fight against hotel chain getting harder to ignore

If there's collective guilt to be had over the case against Hyatt hotels worldwide for its treatment of housekeepers and other workers, I would have to share in it.

I've stayed in the chains' upscale hotels, picked up tabs at their restaurants and bars and belong to a group that does business with the Grand Hyatt here. I can't count the number of galas, conventions, weddings and press conferences I've attended in Hyatt hotels.

But though boycotts are generally ineffective and increasingly complicated to honor, given the interconnectivity of corporate holdings, it's getting uncomfortably hard to ignore the boycott led in San Antonio by some of its housekeepers, political allies and the labor union Unite Here!

Perhaps it's because they're good at making you feel uncomfortable.

With more than 250,000 members in the United States and Canada, Unite Here! has singled out the Hyatt chain as “the worst hotel employer in America.”

Several national sources have pegged the ongoing dispute on the expiration of labor contracts and efforts to unionize workers, a difficult task anywhere.

The union alleges the hotel employees have heavy workloads that risk injury and that its contract workers — what the hotel calls “outsourcing” — are paid less, don't get similar benefits and have even less say-so in the workplace.

The union and its allies, including several local pastors, have written to the city alleging the Hyatt is violating its management agreement by outsourcing jobs, a common phenomenon.

In November, City Attorney Michael Bernard responded, saying the city consented to an agreement between the Hyatt and Hotel Investments that, “as you correctly note, requires all employees of the hotel to be employees of the Hyatt Corporation.”

There's something Orwellian in the observation that employees must be employees, but however it's read, the city is a third party to the agreement and can't enforce its provisions. The city promises to “continue to monitor the situation.”

More recently, the union has focused on the 22 percent “service charge” Hyatt tacks on to catering bills, calling it a fee that masquerades as a gratuity for workers. But if the union and hotel agree on anything, it's that the service charge isn't a tip.

Hyatt managing director Tom Netting says it's charged “to offset the cost of administration and preparing for the customer's function,” noting workers in this area of the hotel make almost $19 an hour.

Netting says most consumers know a “service charge” isn't a tip, though some consumers would disagree. Still, “We're already looking to add language to it,” he says. “We're totally transparent on these types of things.”

In defense of the hotel, Netting also says about 10 of the 800 Hyatt employees here are involved in the union, and that its housekeepers may clean up to 24 rooms per shift, but not more.

City Councilman Diego Bernal plans to propose a Tip Integrity Act, so both consumers and workers know what a service charge is (not a tip) and isn't. Language is being drafted and could be ready for comment in a few months.

No matter the outcome, some national groups have decided to join the boycott. Unite Here! cites the National Organization for Women and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in its corner.

Its local allies include the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, Fuerza Unida and the Stonewall Democrats. Housekeeper Maria Soto, 56, has been among the workers involved in the union. The Hyatt employee has worked for unionized hotels and vouches for their better working conditions.

She had similar hopes for the Grand Hyatt. When it first opened, she was assigned 10 to 12 rooms a shift, she says. That slowly gave way to upwards of 30. She has suffered several accidents on the job and has had trouble with management over reporting them.

You have to admire her bravery. It's never easy to speak truth to power. She could leave but wants to see the union's work through, “for me and the people who will come after me,” she said in Spanish, “Until they pay attention.”

“Until they pay attention.”