Justice for Hotel Worker's
Campaign Fact Sheet

What is the Justice for Hotel Workers Campaign about?
Our campaign is about ensuring that housekeepers and other hotel workers (a large percentage of which are women, people of color, immigrants, and single parents) earn a living wage for their important labor. It is also about safeguarding workers’ rights that we should all be granted. Paying workers less than they can live on is unfair to these workers, unjust in a society of great wealth and immoral in a community that values families and children. We want to show the hotel operators that our community cares about our neighbors who work at these hotels.

What if I am a hotel worker myself, or know of someone who’s a hotel worker?
The Workers. Center is looking for people who are working, or recently worked, in the hotel/motel industry. We believe that our campaign is much stronger when we have the people who are most directly affected by conditions in hotels and motels be involved in the campaign. Please contact our office at 607-269-0409 or TCWRC@yahoo.com if you would like to get involved.

What are conditions for Ithaca/Tompkins County hotel workers like?
Pervasive Pain:
Most hotel room cleaners experience severe back and neck pain associated with physical workload, work intensification, and ergonomic problems. 91% of hotel housekeepers experience workplace pain. 84% take medication for the pain they experience at work. 72% of room cleaners in a recent study said "chemical irritation of the skin or eyes from cleaning supplies" was also a problem in the workplace.

Increased Amenities:
Hotels are involved in "bed wars" and adding amenities to a room. While guests love this, the housekeepers are now required to move mattresses weighting 113 pounds eight times to make a single bed. Since the new bedding was put in, hotel satisfaction went up significantly, so have injuries to the housekeepers.

Lack of Living Wage jobs
The hotel industry in Ithaca employs over 600 workers, mostly in hotels/motels affiliated with national chains like Ramada, Hilton Garden Inn, Clarion, Best Western, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Econolodge, and Super 8. Each hotel sets its own pay scale but the general wage level for housekeepers, custodians, desk clerks and food service workers is in the $7.15-$8.00 range. This is well below a living wage in Tompkins County, even if these workers worked full-time year round, which most do not (nationally the average workweek is 30 hours for hotel workers, and employers can cut hours without notice). While the hotels also sometimes offer health insurance to full-time workers, most workers cannot afford the expensive premiums or co-pays required. The one exception locally is the Statler Hotel which does pay its unionized staff better wages and benefits. The entry-level pay rate at the Statler for housekeepers, custodians, food service workers and dish machine operators is about $12/hour.

What is a living wage and how does it help workers?
A Living Wage is the amount of income and resources (such as health insurance) needed for an individual or family to meet its basic needs without public or private assistance. According to a study done for 2007 by the Alternatives Federal Credit Union, a single individual without children needs $20,450.21 for the year ($9.83/hour for a 40-hour week for the full year) plus health insurance. AFCU came to this figure by tallying the local cost of living, including food, housing, out-of-pocket health costs, transportation, utilities, recreation, taxes and savings.

What other actions could promote more livable hotel jobs?
There are a number of things the hotels, community, public bodies and others might consider to improve jobs in the industry.

1. Provide more full-time jobs if they are desired
2. Provide affordable health care coverage
3. Promote career paths and skill upgrading programs
4. Provide other benefits and family-friendly workforce practices
5. Protect union organizing rights
6. Improve managerial and conflict resolution skills
7. Collect more data on workforce issues and industry performance
8. Establish an ongoing employer, community, governmental, and worker partnership to plan and oversee programs to improve working conditions

What is the pledge to use only Living Wage hotels/motels about?
The pledge is a statement of support for the principle that people who work for a living should be able to live on what they earn from their work. It is also a statement that the signer will seek to patronize those hotels that commit to paying a living wage to their employees. We are trying to show the hotel industry that the people of Ithaca really care that working families in our community who work at these hotels are not able to live on what they earn. We can show we care by rewarding those hotels that do decide to pay a living wage.

What is the Tompkins County Workers’ Center?
The Workers. Center is composed of 54 faith-based, labor, community and student groups, as well as individuals, united by our concern that too many members of our community go to work each day but come home at the end of the week with too little to maintain a decent standard of living. We also provide information, referral, advocacy, and support for workers who feel they are treated unfairly at work. To join or find out more about our plans for the future, call the Workers. Center office at 269-0409 or send an e-mail to TCWRC@yahoo.com. Website: www.TCWorkersCenter.org