Boston jobs march highlights fired Hyatt workers

Over 1,000 unionized and laid-off workers came from across New England for a massive march for jobs here on Oct. 1. With unemployment at record levels and no end in sight, organized labor in Massachusetts stirred the local movement for economic justice to a new height.

Fired Boston hotel workers greet March for Jobs as it arrives at the Hyatt. WW photos: Liz Green

Organized by the Verizon workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2222, with assistance from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, a number of local unions, Jobs With Justice, and the Bail Out the People Movement, over 75 local unions organized delegations to join the march.

Of utmost concern were the vicious firings of house staff at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the planned elimination of “copperwire” land-line Verizon workers in Massachusetts represented by Local 2222. The march rallied at both of these sites after spirited speeches and a rally at the State House.

In a departure from past practice, Miles Calvey, business agent of Local 2222 and a principal organizer of the march, allowed only laid-off workers to speak at the opening rally. No union officials or politicians were permitted to speak.

In an historic first, Ethan St. Pierre, a laid-off transgender Verizon worker, was one of the speakers. “When I was laid off, I lost my health insurance that I desperately needed for my gender reassignment surgery!” he exclaimed.

Major union contingents came from Local 2222 and six other IBEW locals; Boston School Bus Drivers, United Steelworkers union Local 8751; Operating Engineers union; Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 26; and UNITE-HERE. Community contingents were organized by the Bail Out the People Movement, the Chinese Progressive Association, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Alliance, Community/Labor United, Women’s Fightback Network and Stonewall Warriors of the International Action Center.

City Councilor Chuck Turner distributed a statement to the demonstrators entitled “It’s Time for Justice for American Workers.” It called for “a movement focused on creating an economy with good jobs for all” and cited the need for a national jobs program like the 1930s’ WPA (Works Progress Administration). Turner is fighting back against the right-wing U.S. Attorney’s attempt to destroy his career through slanderous false charges and trial by media. He recently overcame a smear campaign by winning an absolute majority of votes in his district against four opponents.

The marchers ended at the Hyatt Regency, where they joined a hundreds-strong worker picket line, including all 100 room attendants fired by this greedy multinational corporation, which accumulated $1.2 billion in cash in 2008. In recent months the housekeepers were made to train temporary staff to do their jobs—at half their pay—and were then terminated and immediately ordered out of the hotel by armed guards.

When the workers were fired, they marched to the office of UNITE-HERE Local 26, which represents 6,000 hotel workers in the Boston area. The union and the fired workers organized picket lines and initiated a boycott of the Hyatt.

Just a few days before the jobs march, the laid-off staff unanimously refused a tepid offer by Hyatt to restore a few benefits for a few months. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has taken a lot of heat from the right wing for saying that the Hyatt workers should be given their jobs back.

This is turning into a major struggle between the unions and this Wall Street hotel chain. Room attendants are the core of every hotel and the strength of every hotel union. At UNITE-HERE Local 26 they are the core of the union’s membership and leadership.

Beside firing the workers and drastically lowering the replacements’ pay, the Hyatt is going for the jugular of the union. Hyatt, which is non-union in Boston but unionized in many other cities, is on a national union-busting campaign. In Chicago UNITE-HERE Local 1 has been without a contract for a year and has had many sit-ins and demonstrations of up to 1,000 workers.

As the march approached the 400 workers and supporters picketing the hotel, it ignited the determination of both the hotel workers and the union marchers, and downtown shoppers and commuters responded as well. The chants of “Boycott Hyatt!” initiated by the Chinese, Latino/aand Black workers blared through downtown for blocks and made it clear that the workers deeply feel this struggle against the venomous union-busting undertaken by the Hyatt owners.

This jobs march is a harbinger of the awakening workers’ struggle in New England.