Hotel Workers Call on Trump to Hire DC Residents
Friday, July 25, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Inside,
billionaire Donald Trump wielded a golden
shovel, outside, the workers leafleted.
Hired security officers barred hotel
workers and the general public from attending
or viewing the groundbreaking ceremony
on Wednesday for the Trump International at the
Old Post Office Pavilion on
Pennsylvania Avenue, which took place in an
enclosed area on the premises. But
that didn’t stop members of UNITE HERE Local
25 from gathering outside to
protest. “The Trumps want to spend as much as
they can to build this
ultra-luxury hotel, but they won’t even
commit to hire DC residents or pay good
wages,” said Carlita Munson, who works at the
Washington Court Hotel. “It kind
of speaks to their priorities.” The workers
passed out flyers blaming the
Trumps for promoting inequality in the city.
“Wonder why we have growing
inequality?” the flyer asks. “This is how
it happens: billionaires who are more
concerned with posh than with people, and
expect the rest of us to play along.”
Sam Epps, the union’s Political Director,
added that “Development doesn’t just mean
building things. It means creating real
opportunities for residents. We’re
calling on the Trumps to make a commitment to
real economic development that
actually benefits the people who live
here.”
- photo: UNITE HERE
25 members Pacos Mora and Eusebio Medrano
leaflet; photo by Jose Rivera