Category Archives: Labor Justice

Workers to Hyatt: Enough is Enough!

It was my honor to participate yesterday in a civil disobedience action in front of the Chicago Hyatt Regency Hotel. The action was part of a 15-city North American campaign targeting the Hyatt and other hotel corporations who have been squeezing workers and cutting staff across the country.

I’ve written about the Hyatt’s increasingly draconian labor practices before. Last August, Hyatt fired its longtime housekeeping staff at its three Boston-area hotels, many of whom had worked for their hotels for over 20 years. Many were required to train their replacements, who are being paid minimum wage. Hyatt defended its action by claiming it was a “business decision” and to this day the workers have not been rehired.

Meanwhile, Hyatt and other hotel chains are using the recession as an excuse to lock in employees to new long-term contracts that will freeze salaries and require workers to contribute to their own health care benefits. Blaming these actions on the recession is dubious at best, as the Hotel Workers Rising website points out:

Nationwide, the hotel industry is rebounding faster and stronger than expected, with a hearty rebound projected in 2011 and 2012. In the six months following Hyatt’s November initial public offering, Hyatt’s shares were up over 65%. In one day, majority owners of Hyatt Hotels, the Pritzker family, cashed out over $900 million in an initial public offering of the company’s stock.

Yesterday’s Chicago action in front of the Hyatt Regency took place on the busy intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. In the presence of hundreds of cheering supporters, two hundred hotel employees, allies, and clergy locked arms and sat down in rows in the middle of the street, and chanted “Enough is enough!”

Though we were all prepared to be arrested, Unite Here Local 1 leaders decided at the last minute that the majority of us would leave the scene before arrests took place, out of respect for the recently slain Chicago police officer Michael Bailey, whose wake was taking place that day. In the end, only 25 protesters were formally taken into custody.

It was a profound experience to send this public message of solidarity to the Hyatt company – and it was moving indeed to witness the mutual respect exchanged by protesters and police, which is obviously not always the case when it comes to acts of civil disobedience.

Click above to see a clip from the Chicago demonstration. I’m the one in the third row, in the light blue shirt. To my right is Cantor Michael Davis of Lakeside Congregation, Highland Park. That’s me and Michael in the pic below.

Fellow Jewish clergy and community leaders: I enourage you to sign this statement of support for Hyatt workers.

Support Worker Justice at Hyatt!

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If you’re a rabbi, cantor or Jewish community leader, I encourage you to support Hyatt workers by signing on to this new statement, “An Appeal to for Justice at Hyatt:”

The Torah commands us “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer” (Deut 24:14), and the Rabbis later teach that employees have a right to organize and demand just conditions and compensation for their labor (Tosefta Bava Metzia 11:24).

We cannot stand idly by as the housekeepers and hotel workers of the Hyatt Hotels stand to lose their hard won and fair compensation. The call to pursue justice (Deut. 16:20) demands that we stand with these workers so that they don’t slip into poverty.

Therefore, we, the undersigned concerned rabbis, cantors, and community leaders, call on the owners and leadership of Hyatt Hotels to commit to the Jewish and universal obligations to treat workers fairly and to recognize the value of their labor. We call on all Jewish institutions and individuals to support Hyatt workers in their disputes, and we express our willingness to boycott Hyatt properties in support of these principles if requested to do so by the affected workers.

I’m thrilled to report that the primary signers of the statement include Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis from across the country. Sixty more leaders have already signed on as supporters.

For more background, read my recent post on the subject or check out the website Hotel Workers Rising.

Video: Hyatt Management Eats Bitter Herbs!

The Hyatt Hotel Workers’ Bitter Herbs

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Yesterday I had the honor of joining a demonstration of over 100 interfaith clergy who protested outside the Hyatt Hotel Corp’s shareholders’ meeting in Chicago. Hyatt went public last November and was hoping to have a quiet, pro-forma meeting. In the end, Hyatt’s increasingly draconian labor practices made that fairly impossible.

Here’s some background from the website Hotel Workers Rising:

In city after city across North America, Hyatt Hotels is leading the fight against middle class jobs for hotel workers. Nationwide, the hotel industry is rebounding faster and stronger than expected, with a hearty rebound projected in 2011 and 2012. In the six months following Hyatt’s November initial public offering, Hyatt’s shares were up over 65%. In one day, majority owners of Hyatt Hotels, the Pritzker family, cashed out over $900 million in an initial public offering of the company’s stock. As recently as March 31, 2010 Hyatt had $1.3 billion in cash on hand.

Despite trends showing a strong recovery for the hotel industry and hotel owners, big hotel companies are still squeezing workers and cutting staff. Hyatt is the starkest example. Hyatt is using the weak economy as an excuse to slash benefits, eliminate jobs and lock workers into the recession. In Boston, Hyatt fired their entire housekeeping staff at three non-union hotels, laying off 98 longtime housekeepers and replacing them with outsourced workers making minimum wage. Many of the fired workers report that Hyatt required that they train their replacements…

In cities across North America, Hyatt is attempting to rollback quality job standards and make the recession permanent for thousands of unionized workers. Proposals in several cities would result in the elimination of quality health care for thousands of low wage workers. Cities with contracts Hyatt union contracts expiring in 2009-2010: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, Monterey, Honolulu, and Washington DC.

As previous attempts to meet with Hyatt management proved fruitless, organizers decided to use the occasion of the shareholders’ meeting to force a meeting. Our clergy group gathered outside the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and marched up to second floor where the meeting was taking place. We were stopped at the security line, where we were told we had to be “registered shareholders” if we wanted to enter the meeting.

As security scrambled and the police were called (below), we sang outside the doors of the meeting, booming out “Open up for me the gates of justice/I will enter and praise the Holy One” (Psalm 118:19). As we sang, it became clear that the meeting was ending – and one by one the shareholders had to walk through a huge crowd of singing, clapping clergy.

Eventually, our delegation was met by Robb Webb, chief human resources officer for Hyatt. He told us that he honored our motives and he “regretted” the way the Boston firings were handled, but we had to understand that it was ultimately a “business decision” in the end. We responded that If he truly honored our motives, then he must surely understand that “it’s only business” is not an acceptable explanation. Rabbi Barbara Penzner (my Reconstructionist colleague from Boston who has been helping lead the protest of the “Hyatt 100”) pointed out that beyond the economic bottom line, there was a “moral bottom line” due the workers who help make the Hyatt shareholders’ formidable profits possible.

Barbara then presented Mr. Webb with a platter of bitter herbs (top pic), pointing out that Hyatt was indeed embittering the lives of its workers. Noting the symbolism of the Passover story, we all then ate of the maror in solidarity with Hyatt employees.

Outside (above), we shared our experiences with the demonstrating workers (who let out a huge cheer when they learned that the new Hyatt shareholders were forced to run a gauntlet of raucous, singing clergy.)

Click here to sign a pledge of support for the Hyatt 100.

The RRA Endorses the Employee Free Choice Act!

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I’ve spent the last three days in New Orleans, site of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association’s annual convention. Other than our day of service in NOLA’s Gentilly neighborhood, the big news from convention is our association’s passage of a resolution endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act. I’m proud to say it represents the strongest endorsement of the EFCA by any Jewish organization.

Click below for the text of the entire resolution:

Continue reading →

Demanding Justice in Postville

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I spent an incredible day yesterday in Postville, Iowa, where an interfaith mobilization of nearly 1,500 people prayed, marched, sang and testified in solidarity with the 390 immigrant Agriprocessor workers arrested in the May 12 raid. I’m still processing the experience the morning after – suffice to say this action provided a powerful ray of light in the midst of the ongoing tragedy that is Postville.

Some brief background for those who still need it: on May 12, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the Agriprocessors kosher meat packing plant. It was the largest single-site workplace raid in US history, resulting in the detainment of 390 employees (out of a total of 968). Ninety were subsequently released (many with GPS ankle bracelets) – the remaining 300 have convicted as criminals on felony charges.

This is the first time that criminal charges were used as a deportation tactic in an immigrant raid. Most of the detained workers were sentenced to five months in prison for engaging in identity theft, in addition to being charged with committing a civil offense for living in the US illegally. According to the terms of their sentence, they are to be deported after serving their time. (Agriprocessors has not been charged, although there have been widespread and growing charges of worker abuse at the plant).

Yesterday’s demonstration was organized to show solidarity with the Agriprocessor workers and their families and to shine a bright light on our profoundly broken immigration policy. This action brought together an unprecedented coalition of activists and was organized by Postville’s St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, Jewish Community Action (St. Paul, MN), the Jewish Coucil on Urban Affairs (Chicago), and the Office for College Ministries at Luther College (Decorah, IA).

Marchers came from throughout the Midwest – largely from Iowa, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Chicago. I joined two full tour buses organized by JCUA for the five hour ride. As we arrived, the scale of the action quickly became evident – throngs were simply pouring into Postville from every direction. I was honored to participate in an interfaith service at St. Bridget’s (below) – the Catholic church that initially provided refuge for families of the detained and has been the base of operations for the crisis response team.

After the service, we began our march. (That’s me with JRC members Leon and Sue Fink and Gonzalo and Tina Escobar below). Our first stop was the Agriprocessor’s plant which was adorned, horrifyingly enough, with a menorah, a Jewish star, and a banner that read “Agriprocessors: A Great Place to Work!” Needless to say, I was heartened by the strong Jewish presence at the demonstration, which provided Postville with a very different face of the Jewish community.

Our march also stopped at large playground that has remained largely empty since the raid. (The Postville school system has been decimated since employee children have either moved away with their families or are living in fear in their homes). In one of the many emotional high points of the day, a group of employee children (below) recited this piece, which was inspired by the poem “I Am A Jew” (from the classic collection “I Never Saw Another Butterfly”):

We are Latinos and will be Latinos forever.
Even if they should try to separate our families
never will we submit.
We will always fight for our people
on our honor.
We will never be ashamed of them
we give our word.

We are proud of our people,
how dignified they are.
Even though we are supressed,
we will always come back to life.

Our march then took us into downtown Postville, where we encountered the inevitable counter demonstrators. As you can see from the pix below, their signs ranged from the more than mildly offensive to the outright repulsive. (We quickly learned, however, that these fine citizens were not locals. I want to take pains to note that we were largely received with respect and appreciation by the citizens of Postville).

During the final rally, the skies opened up with a thunderstorm, so we moved back into St. Bridget’s. By far, the most moving part of this gathering were the personal testimonies of Agriprocessor workers and their families. One young boy, whose mother is currently imprisoned in Leavenworth, KS, spoke eloquently about his family and their plight, while choking back tears.

As painful as it is, I believe it is so essential for us to bear witness to stories such as these. They are critical reminders that the immigration debate in our country is not about abstract policy, but real people whose lives are literally being torn apart by structural violence. At the end of the day, this really is the crux of the issue. All the rest, as the ubiquitous Rabbi Hillel once said, is mere commentary.

Still, yesterday was a proud day for us all. And I can’t help but hope that this newly emboldened coalition will now take the struggle to the next level.

I’ll close with the picture below. Take a close look – I think it says it all. (The mother with the ankle bracelet is Maria Garcia, an ex-Agriprocessor employee originally from San Luis Potasi, Mexico. That’s her son Anthony holding the American flag…)

Shalom Rav

A Blog by Rabbi Brant Rosen