Category Archives: Labor Issues

by | December 10, 2010 · 5:51 am

Hotel Industry Employee Issues: Report Finds “Fraud And Misuse” Of H-2B Guest Worker Program By Hotel Management And Owners

The H-2B program for unskilled non-agricultural migrant workers is one of the nation’s many alien worker programs, and one that, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report, is subject to extensive fraud and abuse.

The H-2B program is both smaller than the H-1B program, for high tech workers, and subject to considerably less attention. In terms of visa issuances, one measure of the size of these programs, there were 44,847 H-2B visas issued in FY 2009, compared to 110,367 H-1B visas. These numbers are from the annual Report of the Visa Office at the State Department.

Since the H-1B program displaces American workers with college degrees, and depresses wages where the high-tech workers are concentrated, it secures a lot more public attention that the H-2B program, which operates at the other end of the labor market, where employers hire landscapers, forest workers, waiters, and other less-skilled workers.

GAO’s report on the troubles with the program are based on a solid foundation; the agency’s auditors found ten closed criminal and civil cases in which courts had decided that employers had misused the program and abused their alien workers. The highlights of these cases, as quoted in the report, are as follows:

Hotel owners forced H-2B workers to work in substandard conditions, confiscated workers’ passports, and threatened workers that they would be sent home in a ‘box’ if they disobeyed orders . . .

Workers from India paid at least $20,000 for H-2B visas to enter the U.S. but were never employed by the construction company . . .

Conspirators fraudulently obtained H-2B certifications from Labor for over 3,800 individuals, leased workers to undisclosed businesses not listed on the visa petitions, [and] defrauded the government of $7.4 million in payroll taxes . . .

The nation would do just fine without any H-2B program at all; the only “cost” would be that some marginal employers would have to increase their wages a bit to attract workers to their jobs.

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by | December 8, 2010 · 4:21 am

Hospitality Industry Insurance Issues: Santa Cruz Hotel Owners Negotiate Successful Contract With Union Employees Saving Substantial Benefits And Expenses

 In negotiating the new contract the owners and operator initially hoped to slash more than $500,000 from their operating costs; the union, meanwhile, sought to guard employees’ insurance, eight-hour workday and paid vacation.

“It was very, very challenging because the owners were spending more than a million dollars a year in benefits,” says Jane Howard, Chief People Officer for Joie de Vivre Hospitality. “We needed to work together to get the cost of that down some, and we were able to do that.” The hotel ultimately accepted an insurance plan proposed by the labor union that is expected to save it $130,000 annually.

The owners and operators of Santa Cruz’s Dream Inn can rest easy now that the unionized employees at the hotel have finally ratified a contract following nearly a year of negotiations and union demonstrations. The employees, represented by UNITE HERE Local 483, voted to accept a new four-year contract last Tuesday, Nov. 30. 

The Dream Inn is jointly owned by the Southern California real estate developer Ensemble Investments and AEW Capital Management and operated by Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which manages a number of other properties around the state.

The final agreement, which will allow employees to keep their insurance and eight-hour work day but not their paid vacation time, was reached in arbitration with an outside mediator that took place at the hotel on Nov. 23. A week later, the employees voted with a 91 percent majority to accept the contract; had they failed to ratify, the union would have moved to strike.

“I think we made some progress,” Michael Roberts, a bartender at the Dream Inn’s Aquarius restaurant, said. “We definitely got a reasonable contract, but for me, a lot of it came down to the fact that I didn’t feel like the membership would have supported a strike if it came down to that. They were willing to do certain actions, but I don’t think a strike would have been supported.”

The new contract covers 85 workers at the hotel, who, under its terms, will keep a generous benefits package that includes health, dental, vision and life insurance—all free—for the employee’s entire family. “It was very, very challenging because the owners were spending more than a million dollars a year in benefits,” says Jane Howard, Chief People Officer for Joie de Vivre Hospitality. “We needed to work together to get the cost of that down some, and we were able to do that.” The hotel ultimately accepted an insurance plan proposed by the labor union that is expected to save it $130,000 annually.

The insurance policy was ultimately the most important factor for Roberts, although he sympathized with longtime employees who, under the new contract, will lose paid vacation time accrued over many years of service. “I’ve only worked there for three and a half years, but we have employees who have worked there for almost 20 years who are taking hits for vacation—like losing a week or more days—so it was a very big deal for them.”

“That was painful for us, we really didn’t want to have to move on vacation,” says Lizzie Keegan, a representative for UNITE HERE who was present throughout negotiations. “There were some things that obviously stung a little bit, but overall we ratified with over that 90 percent because everybody feels that, in this economic recession, we will have to [make some concessions] and it will be hard, but we’re really proud that we have really good insurance and it covers us and covers our families.”

For more:  http://news.santacruz.com/2010/12/07/dream_inn_hotel_workers_keep_bennies

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by | December 4, 2010 · 7:14 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Satisfaction: Hotel Management Must Instill “Standards Of Excellence” In Guest Service (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-aJ7bxrUg8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]

Videos from AHLEI which highlights the seven elements that show employees how to achieve a new standard of exceptional guest service:

AUTHENTICITY, INTUITION, EMPATHY, CHAMPION, DELIGHT, DELIVERY AND INITIATIVE

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eieu7b5W1hE&list=ULkGHmSs0DNBQ&playnext=1]

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by | December 3, 2010 · 8:58 am

Hospitality Industry Workplace Risk Management: Hotel Owners And Management Can Limit “Sexual Harassment” Liability By Preventing “Hostile Work Environments” And Educating Employees To Report “Unwelcome Sexual Conduct” (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6V_h7w4Nc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]

There are various types of sexual harassment including “hostile work environments”. This video presents employees with scenarios that define sexual harassment and how to effectively recognize and deal with it.

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by | December 1, 2010 · 7:43 am

Hotel Industry Guest Relations: Hotel Owners Must Invest In Employee Training To Create A “Positive And Egaged” Environment To Retain Guest Satisfation

Make reputation management a priority. Whether your property is a five-star resort or a one-star motel, your guests are evaluating you on how well you communicate and deliver on your brand promise. Subscribe to a social media monitoring tool and start tracking your Market Share of Guest Satisfaction; in the age of social networking, it’s as important as your revPAR index. Formulate a strategy for optimizing your online reputation, set goals, and meet regularly with your social media team to review progress.

Speak up. We would never ignore a guest ranting in our lobby, so why do so few negative reviews receive a response? (7%, according to TripAdvisor). It’s our chance to show the world we care, to thank the guest for feedback, to apologize and explain, and to clear up any misconceptions. On TripAdvisor reviewers can’t reply to hotel responses, so effectively we get the last word. Use it.

Engage. Hotels used to hire mystery shoppers to tell us what we were doing wrong; now our guests do it and pay us for the privilege. User reviews keep us in touch with guests and allow us to reach a mass market we could never hope to reach through our own marketing efforts. Be grateful. Wherever possible, engage writers of negative reviews and try to make amends. With expert handling, our harshest critics can become our most powerful advocates.

Take the high road. If the review is petty or vindictive, there’s no need to stoop to that level; travelers are smart enough to read between the lines. If allegations are false and defamatory, dispute the review with the host site, post a diplomatic response to set the record straight, and let it go. If your property’s reputation is so fragile that one or two bad reviews will devastate your business, you’ve got more issues than bad reviews. Read on.

Create a cycle of positivity. Use guest feedback to justify investments in training, labor, capital upgrades and communications. Improvements will generate positive reviews, which will attract more travelers and in turn will generate incremental revenue, thereby funding more improvements, and so on. The alternative? Ignore feedback and create a cycle of negativity, with the opposite results.

Prevent escalation. If you listen closely, bad reviews are often less about the issue itself than how staff responded when it was brought to their attention. Train employees to prevent on-property issues from escalating to online complaints by listening, empathizing, offering solutions and following up to ensure guests are satisfied. Some issues take time and money to fix; in the meantime, ensure staff are minimizing fallout by expertly managing complaints.

For more:  http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article50511.html

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by | November 25, 2010 · 7:45 am

Hotel Industry Employee Issues: Unions Unite To Highlight “Housekeeper Workloads” And Workplace Injuries (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfqf5KoVXRg]

Hyatt housekeepers have been given excessive work loads in cleaning extra rooms to the extent that they are experiencing numerous work injuries. In addition, their exhaustion at the end of the work day is seriously eroding their family lives.

On Nov. 18, 2010 a protest was held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago to draw attention to this. Supporting the housekeepers (members of UNITE HERE Local 1) were some 50 labor and community activists, including CACOSH (Chicago Area Committee on Occupational Safety and Health) Director Emanuel Blackwell who declared “work should not hurt.”

To dramatize the excessive work load of the housekeepers, the protesters marched with mops and buckets up to the entrance of the Hyatt to explain that they were there to help the housekeepers do their work. They were not allowed in. One housekeeper brought some fitted bed sheets as examples for the management to consider instead of the non-fitted sheets the workers are forced to use, causing extra backbreaking work when making beds. When she left the sample sheets at the hotel, management had the police write her a ticket for littering. Length – 7:28. Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220.

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by | November 23, 2010 · 5:52 am

Hotel Industry Employee Safety Issues: OSHA Will Target Hospitality Employers That Exhibit “A Pattern Of Non-Compliance” With An Aggressive Enforcement Campaign

“…if OSHA believes that the violation at a particular hotel is indicative of a pattern of non-compliance, then it will launch investigations into other hotels owned or operated by the same company. This company “profiling” should put all hotels on high alert…”

“… In light of the significant penalties and the new focus on enforcement from the government and labor unions, it is important for hotels to take worker safety issues seriously and to have a plan in place should OSHA launch an investigation into their respective properties…”

The housekeepers allege injuries arising from their daily room quotas and argue that cleaning rooms and lifting heavy mattresses lead to accidents and workplace injuries. The complaints allege that workers are discouraged from reporting injuries due to fear of retaliation and that monetary rewards for having a safe workplace discourages complaints. The housekeepers recommend several solutions, including changes to fitted sheets, mops and other equipment used to clean a room, as well as a cap on their daily room quota.

Hospitality employers must be on alert of similar OHSA complaints at its properties. OHSA has begun an aggressive enforcement campaign against employers when it unveiled its “Severe Violator Enforcement Program” (“SVEP”) earlier this year. Under SVEP, OSHA will target those employers who disregard their obligations through willful, repeated, or multiple violations. This will lead to a significant increase in OSHA inspections at workplaces that not only have a history of health and safety violations, but also allows for nationwide inspections of related workplaces.

 Thus, Additionally, because OSHA investigators are more likely to approach local managers at each property, it is important that these managers receive proper training on OSHA regulations and how to comply with an OSHA investigation. Accordingly, hotels should take the necessary steps now to ensure compliance with applicable federal and state requirements through attorney-client self-audits.

For more:  http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c08060f9-c1d2-4b11-ba11-e20e66a39ab3

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by | November 22, 2010 · 11:04 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Issues: Hospitality Owners And Management Should Verify Employment And Utilize “E-Verify” Through The U.S. Citizenship And Immigration Services

E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.

Why E-Verify?

Why do people come to the United States illegally?  They come here to work.  The public can, and should, choose to reward companies that follow the law and employ a legal workforce.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working to stop unauthorized employment.  By using E-Verify to determine the employment eligibility of their employees, companies become part of the solution in addressing this problem.

Employment eligibility verification is good business and it’s the law.

 

Who Uses E-Verify?

More than 225,000 employers, large and small, across the United States use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of their employees, with about 1,000 new businesses signing up each week.

While participation in E-Verify is voluntary for most businesses, some companies may be required by state law or federal regulation to use E-Verify.  For example, most employers in Arizona and Mississippi are required to use E-Verify. E-Verify is also mandatory for employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation E-Verify clause.

For more:  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=e94888e60a405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=

e94888e60a405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

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by | November 9, 2010 · 6:49 pm

Hotel Industry Employee Injury Risk Management: Housekeepers File “Multicity Injury Complaint” That Demands Hotel Management Use “Fitted Sheets”, “Long-Handled Mops And Dusters” And Lower Room Quotas To Reduce Injuries

The complaints recommend the hotels:

  • use fitted sheets to reduce the number of times that women must lift 100-plus pound mattresses;
  • long-handled mops and dusters, so workers do not have to get down on their hands and knees to clean the floors or climb bathtubs to reach high surfaces;
  • and what the union considers to be “reasonable” room quotas.

Housekeepers at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa joined with their mainland counterparts to file the first multicity injury complaint against the hotel operator with the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In addition to Honolulu, complaints were filed by workers at a dozen Hyatt properties in San Antonio; Chicago; San Francisco; Santa Clara, Calif.; Los Angeles; Long Beach, Calif.; and Indianapolis. Those properties employ more than 3,500 workers, according to Unite Here Local 5, the hotel workers union.

Some Hyatt properties require room attendants to clean as many as 30 rooms a day, nearly double the industry standard, according to the union. Housekeeping duties include heavy lifting of beds, linens and other work that can strain the body.

For more:  http://www.staradvertiser.com/business/businessbriefs/20101110_Business_Briefs.html

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by | November 3, 2010 · 7:56 am

Hotel Industry Employee Wage Issues: Employee Unions Plan To Use Threat Of Strikes To Put Pressure On Hotel Management To Negotiate Wage Contracts Acceptable To Both Sides As Industry Recovers

The scene looks much the same among union hotel workers: bold employers, drawn-out bargaining, and unions launching intermittent short strikes to keep up pressure. Hilton is now UNITE HERE’s target because the union judges that company most likely to move—a shift in strategy after months of rolling strikes and pickets against the Hyatt chain.

The union hopes to establish a pattern at the bargaining table with Hilton that other hotels will follow.

Chicago hotel workers authorized strikes at four Hilton-owned or -operated properties. They struck the Hilton Chicago for three days in October, coordinating with Hilton workers in Honolulu and San Francisco. Those strikes ended October 19, but more may be on the way.

Workers in Toronto took advantage of the Toronto International Film Festival in September to gain visibility for their struggle. Rolling one-day strikes at three hotels, including festival headquarters, caused actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez to join the boisterous picket line. The blare of vuvuzelas added to picket-line noise.

Workers rolled out a red carpet and offered passersby the opportunity to have their photo taken with a hotel worker. Inside, workers spotted the housekeeping manager doing bell work.

Six additional one-day strikes have cascaded through Toronto hotels since the film festival. And 500 workers walked out of the Delta Chelsea, a large downtown conference hotel, on October 28. Delta Chelsea workers say they’ll stay out for two weeks.

Cristal Cruz-Haicken of UNITE HERE Local 75 said the two-week strike was necessary because “they weren’t even taking us seriously” at the bargaining table.

Unstable work schedules and job security are a serious problem. Feliz Serrano, a server, said he has worked there 30 years and still usually only gets 30 hours of work a week, but only if he works six days in a row.

Room attendant Jian Ying Liu said the hotel has tried to get rid of her three times because of injuries she received in her 18 years of work there.

Several conferences immediately moved because of the strike.

LOCKING IN THE RECESSION

In the U.S., Hilton workers have been working without a new contract since August 2009. They charge their employer with trying to lock the recession into their wages and workloads even as the hotel industry recovers profitability.

Blackstone, the private equity group that controls Hilton, upped third-quarter profits by 23 percent, to $340 million. This April, the New York Federal Reserve wrote off $180 million of Blackstone’s debt, allegedly to create jobs.

But the hotel chain is trying to squeeze more work from the existing staff. Hilton is proposing that workers who currently clean 14 rooms a day clean 20, with the result that some workers will be laid off.

UNITE HERE members call Hilton’s push to increase their workload the “dirty rooms” program, pointing out that Hilton is reassuring workers they won’t have to meet the same high standards of cleanliness when they’re required to clean 40 percent more rooms.

The average Local 2 member in San Francisco makes $30,000 a year, and if Hilton gets its way workers will soon be paying $173 a month for family health care coverage.

According to Local 2 staffer Riddhi Mehta-Neugebauer in San Francisco, workers have foregone raises over the years, preferring to maintain affordable health coverage. The new $173 per month amounts to a huge takeaway.

Hilton is resisting the union’s proposal that the company put aside an extra 12 cents per hour for pensions, which, UNITE HERE calculates, would mean the difference between a $900 and a $1,200 monthly pension.

Meanwhile, management’s pay is up. According to a Wall Street Journal survey, Blackstone’s executive team got a 12 percent pay increase this year.

For more:  http://labornotes.org/2010/11/unions-reach-short-strikes-stop-concessions

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