Hyatt workers call for boycott of Buffalo hotel

By Casey Parker 

Since the summer of 2024 workers at the Hyatt Regency in Buffalo, New York, have been organizing to form a union. The hotel has responded with typical union- busting tactics. Hyatt Workers United has filed over 30 Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against Ambridge, the company that manages the hotel, including surveilling, intimidating, and firing workers who supported the union.

 While workers initially petitioned for an election in the fall of 2024, they withdrew their petition due to management’s scare tactics. However, because the union had majority support and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that the ULP charges have merit, the NLRB could issue a Gissel order, forcing management to recognize the union and bargain with workers. Gissel orders apply when management’s Unfair Labor Practices make a fair election unlikely.

The trial to prosecute the employer was initially set to start on Oct. 20. However, the trial was delayed to examine if Ambridge’s firing of a vocal worker leader this summer should be included in the ULP charges. With the ongoing federal government shutdown, it is unclear when the trial will begin.

With no clear timeline on when or if the NLRB will act in the workers’ favor, Hyatt Workers United is pressuring the hotel to capitulate and recognize the union voluntarily. There are several pressure points to pursue because the hotel is owned by Douglas Development, operated by Ambridge, and is a franchise of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation whose standards must be met to fly the Hyatt Regency flag. 

In particular, Douglas Development, owned by billionaire Douglas Jamal, is already under fire in Buffalo because it was recently revealed that the company owes millions of dollars in liens to various contractors for work on its development projects in the city. (tinyurl.com/eav6ehjp) 

Douglas Development has also delayed the redevelopment of another Buffalo hotel, the Statler, claiming it needs more than the $12.5 million it already received in state funding. While its management company continues to break labor law, Hyatt Workers United objects to Douglas Development receiving any more taxpayer money. 

The workers have also attempted to reach out to the Hyatt Hotels Corporation but the company claims it has no control over Ambridge, despite it being the entity which allows hotels to fly its flag. Hyatt Workers United has spent the summer picketing the hotel to inform customers and other Buffalo locals about Ambridge’s union busting and the ongoing cruel treatment of workers that inspired the initial drive to organize a union. 

They are now calling for a boycott of the hotel beginning Oct. 20. Picketers have already seen results over the summer, with customers checking out after learning of the dispute and groups including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Auto Workers, Southwest Airlines and the New York Energy Democracy Alliance voluntarily choosing not to do business with the hotel.