Join Unite Here Local 30 on the Picket line at the Manchester Grand Hyatt

Join Unite Here Local 30 on the Picket line at the Manchester Grand Hyatt on Friday, Jan 7th from 3:00-5:00pm and Saturday, January 8th from 11:30 am-1:30 pm. The Manchester Grand Hyatt is located at 1 Market Place San Diego, CA 92101.

Manchester's Hyatt has brought the LGBT community and the hotel workers’ union, UNITE HERE, together to fight for equality for gay and lesbian couples and justice for the workers at his Hyatt hotel. Doug Manchester has a history working against both:

• Equality for lesbian and gay couples. Doug Manchester gave $125,000 to anti-gay campaigners in January of 2008—an early infusion of cash that paid for the signature-gathering to get Proposition 8 on the ballot. Proposition 8 was a California ballot initiative that discriminated against LGBT couples. While Hyatt may officially disavow Manchester's contributions to Proposition 8 as a personal choice, the fact remains that their multi-million dollar LGBT marketing efforts must be seen as little more than hypocrisy when the revenue this marketing attracts is then funneled into efforts that take away the rights of those very people. Headlining the list of endorsers and supporters of the boycott are Equality California (EQCA), Californians Against Hate, the Courage Campaign, and the San Diego County Labor Council. The boycott has cost Doug Manchester $7 million and shown that there are consequences for those who attack the rights of minority groups, advocate discrimination and oppose the rights of workers. For more than a year, Manchester has refused to meet with those leading the boycott.



• Justice for San Diego hotel workers. Manchester's Hyatt allegedly forces housekeepers to clean more rooms than housekeepers at other Hyatt hotels, including the other Hyatt hotel in San Diego. In 2006, housekeepers began lunch hour protests against working conditions in the hotel, saying that their daily room quota had been increased from 17 to 30 rooms per shift! We have no reason to believe that Manchester has made any workload reductions to address these protests. Across the hotel industry, increasing workloads have put a greater strain on housekeepers; work speedups have led to increasing injury rates. According to the Department of Labor, injury rates for hotel workers are 40% higher than the service sector average. Numerous studies have shown that unreasonable workloads are a serious occupational health issue and flat out unacceptable.



Join us this weekend to tell Doug Manchester that these anti-worker and anti-gay practices are unacceptable!

Friday, January 7th from 3:00-5:00pm and Saturday, January 8th from 11:30 am-1:30 pm.



For more information on the Manchester Grand Hyatt Boycott

visit: http://www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org and see you on the picket line!



Thank you,



Jennifer

Co-Chair, AFL-CIO/ALA Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups

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Jennifer Dorning

Researcher and Representative

Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO