Strike shows potential power of hotel workers
By Sharon Black
In one of the most important developments in combating the
relentless attacks from Corporate America, thousands of hotel
and restaurant workers in three major cities are taking on the
giant hotel chains that have consolidated in powerful
transnational contracts.
These workers are represented by UNITE HERE, the national
union that is coordinating this complex and difficult
strategy.
UNITE HERE Local 2 President Mike Casey, whose members
struck four San Francisco hotels and subsequently were locked
out at 10 other chains, charged: "We're dealing with
corporations that have consolidated and merged, and as a result
have amassed tremendous amounts of power. The only way to
protect our standards is to consolidate among North Amer ican
unions. We can't take on global capitalism with local and
regional strategies."
In Los Angeles on Oct. 5, UNITE HERE Local 11 members
rallied in the heart of downtown Los Angeles to protest the San
Francisco Multi-Employer Group's decision to lock out their
sisters and brothers in Local 2. Some 1,500 workers and
community supporters blocked the main arteries in Los Angeles
during the height of rush hour.
UNITE HERE Hospitality Division President John Wilhelm and
44 protesters were arrested. Members from the 14 striking and
locked-out hotels attended the demonstration, and later they
and thousands of supporters marched, picketed and chanted in
front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
In Washington, D.C., the talks have broken down. Local 25
members voted by more than 94 percent to authorize a
strike.
The key issues in all three cities is winning two-year
contracts that would expire simultaneously. This struggle is a
tremendous development in light of the massive mergers
consolidating the industry.
It is a giant step in awakening the rest of the organized
labor movement, because only with a broad class-wide struggle
can the AFL-CIO can stop the hemorrhaging that has been going
on for decades.
The hotel workers are also fighting to protect their health
and pension benefits, reduce work loads and raise wages.
If the 10,000 UNITE HERE rank and filers fighting these
giant hotel conglomerates win their demands, it would put
future contracts in the three cities in sync with hotel
contracts that expire at the same time in New York City,
Boston, Chicago and Toronto.
This would build power, setting these low-paid,
service-oriented, multinational and women workers in motion and
putting them in a strategic position to change the very face of
the labor movement.
The potential will be historic, which makes these workers'
struggle on a par with the great struggles of industrial
workers in the 1930s.
Reprinted from the Oct. 21, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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