Hotel Workers Cheer In New Contract

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The mood was festive yesterday as hotel workers, members of Unite Here Local 25, overwhelmingly (99.5 percent) ratified what Unite Here Local 6 President Jim Donovan called "the best contract in Local 25's history." Staff from Local 6, who represent hotel workers in New York, spent the past eight weeks showing their solidarity as they helped reach out to members of Local 25 during the struggle for a fair contract. Hundreds of workers filed into Asbury Church - some just off work, some with children in tow - to vote on the contract for workers at 18 hotels in the DC metro area as "Lean On Me" and "Celebration" played through the sound system. An image of lions devouring a hippopotamus was projected behind the podium, which, Local 25 Secretary-Treasurer John Boardman explained to members, they had projected on the wall when management came into the room for negotiations. "We're the lions" Boardman told the crowd to shrieks of approving laughter. Before diving into the contract ("Hotel Workers Win 'Groundbreaking' Contract," UC 5/1/2012), members relived some of the chants that brought them through negotiations. Workers jumped to their feet chanting "Up up with the union! Down down with the bosses!" - report/photos by Julia Kann