At 3 o'clock on Monday August 31, managers at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge and Hyatt Harborside Hotel in East Boston summoned their entire housekeeping staffs, fired everybody on the spot, and immediately outsourced the jobs to a staffing company based in Atlanta.
What is now known as the “Hyatt's housekeeping scandal” 1, the 98 fired housekeepers went home that evening and began to tell their families and the public their story. Today the city of Boston knows it well:
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Many of the housekeepers had worked for Hyatt for over 20 years
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The housekeepers were made to train their own replacements after being told that the new workers were vacation fill-ins
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Some temp housekeepers said they now clean 9 more rooms a day and get paid almost half the wage
Lucine Williams, a single mom from Barbados who worked at the Boston Hyatt Regency for nearly 22 years, remembers August 31st. "I could not believe my ears," she says. "I was in shock. People start crying. I start crying. "I know you're upset," a supervisor said to her as she was leaving for the locker room to change out of her uniform, "but can I have your name tag?"2
Today these housekeepers are standing strong. With the help of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Menino, the Boston City Council, Cambridge City Council and the hotel workers union UNITE HERE Local 26, they are demanding their jobs back.
There has been a large public outcry against Hyatts action and many groups have pledged not to patronize these hotels. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce relocated an event set at the Hyatt Regency Boston to “mitigate any potential disruption” to its members. 3
On top of picket lines and protests these workers are asking you to send these hotels a clear message: That you will not patronize these three hotels until the workers have their jobs back.
Please fill out the attached pledge and fax it back to us by clicking below!
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