Pride At Work’s message for queers across the country is that when you come to San Francsico for Pride this June, you don’t want to be caught in a bad hotel!
Protest to support hotel workers fighting for affordable healthcare and a fair contract
On a bustling Saturday afternoon at San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis
Hotel, there was a strange disturbance at the check-in counter. A
seemingly innocuous gay couple had approached the front desk to
inquire about checking in to the hotel. After speaking with the
receptionist for moment, one of the women suddenly shouted frantically
to her wife, in a voice that carried across the lobby, “Honey, I just
realized we can’t stay here, this hotel is under boycott!” Her partner
promptly turned around and burst into song: “Oh-oh-oh-oh-NO! oh-oh-oh!
We’re caught in a bad hotel!”
As she sang people joined in from all over the lobby. Making their way
from out of the cafe and out from every corner they gathered singing
in unison. Much to the amazement of the hotel guests, a flash mob song
& dance routine had began! Numbered among them was a brass band,
brandishing clarinets, drums, susaphones, and giant horns, filling the
ritzy lobby with sound, as dozens of dancers sang along at the top of
their lungs.
The group was playing Lady Gaga’s song “Bad Romance” rewritten to say,
“Don’t get caught in a bad hotel!” The event had been called to draw
attention to to a boycott called by the workers of the hotel who are
fighting to win a fair contract and affordable healthcare. Lesbian Gay
Bisexual Transgender Queer activists put the song & dance together as
a creative way to tell the hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people from
all over the country coming to San Francsico in June for Pride to
honor the worker-called boycott.
A confused and amused crowd gathered to watch the dancers continue
shouting: “Boycott! Boycott! Workers rights are hot!” After the dance
number the band paused for one of the event organizers to make an
announcement on the bull horn. “We are here to tell people to workers
have called for a boycott of this hotel. We are sending a message to
the hotel corporations that the gay community is an important source
of tourists dollars and that we support the worker boycott,” said Jane
Martin. “At the same time, we are sending the message to members of
our own LGBTQ community that when you come to San Francisco in June
for the Pride celebration, support the workers and honor the hotel
boycott.”
Over 9,000 San Francisco hotel workers have been working without a
contract since mid-August 2009 at several Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood, and
InterContinental Hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area. After repeated
attempts at negotiations, these workers are being denied affordable
and high-quality healthcare. This is despite soaring profits at these
multinational corporations. The Starwood Corporation made $180 million
in profit in the first nine months of 2009. The Hyatt Corporation
generated $950 million for its majority owner – the Pritzker family,
and Hilton Hotels recently announced that they have $12.6 billion in
available capital to invest in new high-asset ventures over the next
several years.
Determined to win adequate healthcare for themselves and their
families, workers at these hotels have taken the difficult step of
calling for a boycott of their own workplaces. Workers have officially
called for a boycott of Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf, Grand Hyatt, Le
Meridien, The Palace, Westin St. Francis, Hilton (at O’Farrell), and
the W Hotel, with more hotels expected to be added to this this list
as summer approaches.
Leo Volobrynskyy an openly gay hotel banquet server said, “We are
asking the LGBT community to support us in our struggle to get a fair
contract to ensure the future of our families and the rights of LGBT
members working in the hotels. In the past we have negotiated language
in our contract protecting same sex couples. The union has supported
the rights of gay hotel workers and so we hope the LGBT community will
stand with us now.”
After the dance performance in the Westin St. Francis Hotel, the crowd
cheered and continued to look on in amazement as the group danced
their way out of the hotel and down the street to repeat the entire
performance at the Grand Hyatt, another hotel that is under boycott.
Along the way more protestors and passers by joined in. This time the
hotel had been alerted that the gorup was comming, but nothing stood
in the way of the hundred protestors as they entered the Hyatt. The
group performed in the lobby to great applause and wrapped up with a
boisterous picket line outside the hotel. As one participant put it,
“it’s more fun to protest with the gays, cause we’ve got the attitude
and we know how to dance.”
To learn more about how to honor the boycott and support the workers visit:
www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org
http://www.hotelworkersrising.org/HotelGuide/boycott_list.php
this event was organized by:
San Francsico Pride at Work / HAVOQ
www.sfprideatwork.org
One Struggle One Fight
www.onestruggleonefight.org
The Brass Liberation Orchestra
www.brassliberation.org
Additional Background Information:
Many LGBT organizations & leaders in San Francisco have already
endorsed the workers boycott including: the San Francisco Pride
Parade, the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, the Alice B. Toklas
Democratic Club, Mark Leno, Tom Ammiano, San Francisco Pride at Work,
and One Struggle One Fight.
“As part of the city’s progressive movement, the LGBTQ community
stands with hotel workers in solidarity. As we fight for equality for
the queer community, we also believe that workers’ rights are human
rights,” said Josue Arguelles, event organizer and member of Pride at
Work. “We are inspired by Harvey Milk’s leadership in the Coors Beer
boycott, knowing that our struggles for justice are inter-connected.
Corporations and hotels that are not worker-friendly cannot claim to
be queer-friendly.”
The LGBTQ community and Unite Here, the union that represents these
hotel workers, have historically had close ties. Unite Here Local 2
has marched in the Pride parades for years, was a firm supporter of
Harvey Milk’s candidacy, and has negotiated and instituted domestic
partnership benefits in its contracts. At the height of the AIDS
epidemic, Local 2 established a fund to support its members who are
HIV positive, helping them with medical treatment and even rent.
This protest in San Francisco follows multiple protests of Hyatt in
San Diego, where the LGBT community teamed up with protesting workers
after Manchester Grand Hyatt owner, Doug Manchester, donated $125,000
in support of efforts to pass Prop. 8. Hyatt markets itself as
gay-friendly but never lifted a finger to chastise Manchester. In
Boston last year, when Hyatt fired 100 housekeepers and subcontracted
their jobs, the LGBTQ community rallied in support of the workers,
with key queer organizations, including the Pride organizing
committee, refusing donations from Hyatt until the workers get their
jobs back.
Ragina Johnson from the organization One Struggle One Fight sums up
the feeling motivating these protests, “We see that our struggles are
connected. There is a new generation of queer activists in the streets
today. The word of the day is solidarity.”