Workers at Jefferson Hotel Resist "Aggressive" Management, Vote to Join IUOE 99

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Stationary engineers at the historic Jefferson Hotel in downtown DC voted unamimously on Wednesday, May 9 to join the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 99.  The vote capped a months-long campaign led by Local 99 organizers. “The word is out now,” says IUOE Local 99 Business Manager Mike Murphy, “and DC-area stationary engineers who have seen their wages and benefits cut in the wake of the recession are increasingly aware of the benefits and job security collective bargaining brings.” Despite the hotel’s “rather aggressive” “Vote No” campaign, the unit stuck together in the face of intense employer resistance. - report by Jon Haines, IUOE Local 99; photo of an IUOE 99 shop meeting courtesy of IUOE Local 99