Baltimore City Council Urges Hyatt to Maintain Labor Peace

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Unite Here Local 7 celebrated along with workers as Baltimore's City Council unanimously approved a measure last week urging Hyatt to honor its contract with the city at its Inner Harbor location. The resolution arose out of a labor dispute which has been growing at the city-owned hotel since a unionization drive at the hotel last summer. Understaffing, harsh working conditions and Hyatt's increasing use of subcontracted staff are among the issues at stake. As part of the Inner Harbor's redevelopment, taxpayers invested $20 million dollars in the Hyatt Regency, with the hope that doing so would bring good jobs to Baltimore. The agreement between the City and Hyatt states that Hyatt must directly employ all workers in the hotel, but workers testified at a recent City Council hearing that Hyatt routinely uses subcontracted workers to staff core functions at the hotel. These workers receive lower pay and do not have access to Hyatt benefits, although they do the same work as direct employees. “I’m happy the City Council chose to send such a strong message to Hyatt by passing this resolution unanimously”, said Debbie Wright, a bartender who has worked at Hyatt for eighteen years. “If Hyatt can get away with paying subcontracted workers less money, it lowers the standards for hotel workers overall.” - report by Mariya Strauss; photo: picket at Baltimore Hyatt; photo by Andrew Castro