On the picket line

Hyatt housekeepers file OSHA complaints

More than 3,500 mostly women housekeepers in 12 Hyatt hotels in eight cities filed injury complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Nov. 9. This unprecedented move by UNITE-HERE Local 2 members was based on a study of 50 U.S. hotels operated by the five largest U.S. hotel chains that showed housekeepers have the highest injury rates among hotel workers and that housekeepers at Hyatt hotels have the highest injury rates in all the hotels studied. The report, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine earlier this year, showed that women hotel workers were 50 percent more likely to be injured than men, and Latina women had almost double the risk of injury as their white female counterparts. Housekeepers at Hyatt hotels risked injury at a rate almost twice that of workers at hotels with the lowest rate. The OSHA complaint offered recommendations like using fitted sheets to reduce the number of times women must lift 100-pound mattresses, supplying long-handled mops and dusters so workers can avoid climbing and crawling, and scheduling reasonable room quotas to help prevent injuries. Complaints were filed by Hyatt workers in Chicago; Honolulu; Indianapolis; San Antonio; and Long Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Francisco in California.

Nurses in D.C. plan one-day strike

Nurses at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., who have been fighting for a decent contract for months, voted to strike on Nov. 24 to bring the hospital back to the bargaining table. The nurses are frustrated because management won’t agree to their demands for patient safety or recognize National Nurses United as their union. Management also refuses to change unsafe staffing conditions and is demanding unauthorized takeaways in pay and paid time off. (Union City!, the online newsletter of Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, Nov. 12)

Flight attendants union challenges Delta vote

The first union representation election for Delta flight attendants since the merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines ended with a vote rejecting the flight attendants union (AFA-CWA) by less than 300 out of 18,000 votes cast. AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend announced Nov. 3 that the union is “submitting interference charges against Delta management for their illegal and unfair methods to sway the vote.” As in past campaigns, Delta ran an anti-union drive based on fear and misinformation. (AFL-CIO blog, Nov. 3)

Midwest grocery store workers approve contracts

In early November more than 21,000 grocery store workers in the Midwest approved three-year contracts that included modest raises, reports the Food and Commercial Workers union. More than 9,000 checkers, stockers, baggers and department managers at 104 stores in St. Louis’ three largest grocery chains are represented by UFCW Local 655, while more than 12,000 workers are represented by UFCW Local 75 in Cincinnati-area Kroger stores. Local 75 members will also see improved benefits, including higher pension contributions.