Hyatt workers end strike while Hyatt boycott intensifies

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Hyatt workers will return to work on Thursday, September 15, but their campaign against Hyatt’s abuse will escalate as workers continue to fight for the right to solidari

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Hyatt workers will return to work on Thursday, September 15, but their campaign against Hyatt’s abuse will escalate as workers continue to fight for the right to solidarity. The strikers announced today that the end of the strike will mean a redoubling of their efforts to enforce customer boycotts of 16 Hyatt hotels across the nation, including the Grand Hyatt Union Square, Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf, and Hyatt Santa Clara. The intensifying boycott campaign will involve broad customer outreach and community organizing.

The workers’ announcement came during a rally and march through San Francisco. Hundreds of strikers, other hotel workers, community allies, labor unions, and religious leaders rallied in Union Square on Wednesday and marched to the Grand Hyatt hotels and on to the Hyatt Regency in a show of support for strikers in San Francisco, Chicago, Honolulu, and Los Angeles. Workers have been striking in all four cities to demand the right to fight back against Hyatt’s abuses, wherever they may occur.

Boycotted Hyatts have lost over US$20 million in convention and meeting business. Groups who have recently moved events from boycotted Hyatt hotels include:

• NEA, the National Education Association;
• GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation;
• MALDEF, the Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America; and
• Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA members refused to cross the picket line during the strike).

International President Veda Shook wrote to the Hyatt Regency Chicago’s General Manager: “We had received a quote for our association to have our annual meeting in Chicago in February of next year. However, given the current lack of respect for your workers and the lack of meaningful progress in your contract negotiations, we have made the decision to take our business elsewhere. Let me be clear: we were prepared to sign a contract that would have given your property between US$150,000 to US$200,000.”

Scores of national, regional, and local organizations are joining a growing network of groups that are uniting to fight back against Hyatt’s abuse. The following national groups are among the organizations that have pledged to honor the boycotts of Hyatt Hotels:

• National Women’s Health Network;
• Franciscan Action Network;
• National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum;
• Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, America’s Voice; and
• Families USA.

Bay Area boycott endorsers include the Asian Law Caucus, Centro Legal De La Raza, San Francisco Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, and National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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