1 day ago
Danielle Souza
Discussion 8
COLLAPSE
Collapse Post articles below, the overall impact, labor strikes have on the hospitality industry in the United States, is major. Marriot is one of many hotels, dealing with large labor strikes. The reason for these labor strikes
are, many employees contacts expired, at the Marriott hotels in Boston, Detroit, Oakland, Calif., San Diego, San Jose, Calif., Seattle, as well as some locations in Hawaii. On top of this devasting news, union contracts for seven
Marriott hotels in San Francisco also expired this past summer (Special Events Staff, 2018).
Chicago hotel chains, should also be feeling the heat. Thousands of union employees at over 25 major downtown Chicago hotels, went on strike this past summer after their labor contracts ran out. The strike in Chicago, is
the first in decades to target all city hotels that employ union workers. This strike is also, the first involving all hotel service employees, including housekeepers, servers, bellmen, doormen, dishwashers and others. These strikes
are a rarity, which says a lot about the direction the industry is going in (Ecker, 2018). More interesting facts to note, about the Chicago riot.
There are more nonunion hotels then union. “There are 174 hotels in the central business district, according to STR, a suburban Nashville, Tenn.-based research firm, that is a lot more than the 30 hotels whose union
contracts expired at the end of August (Ecker, 2018). Protestors in the Chicago riot are also pushing for year-round health coverage. "We have a problem in Chicago where, when it's slow in the winter and hotel workers are laid
off, they can see their health insurance cut off, (Mallen. 2018)". Chicago is a freezing state in the Winter, having health insurance cut off is a big issue. Prior to this dispute, Unite Here Local 1, was able to help win new protections
for hotel workers. Chicago ordinance now requiries hotels to provide portable "panic buttons" allowing employees to instantly hit the help button if they are being sexually assaulted or harassed by a guest (Ecker, 2018). This sheds
light, on many of the terrible things going on behind closed doors at various hotels.
How about hospitality business internationally? Since I am a citizen of the United States of America. I decided to take a look at a country, where protesting and holding a labor strike would be just about impossible. I
observed Swaziland, because of its repressive regime of intimidation, police violence and imprisonment of its people. It's impossible to hold a strike. Trade unions are also banned and authorities have used anti-terrorism laws to
crack down on union leaders. Two activists are currently still in prison after a year since their arrest without verdict. One activist is, is 65-year old diabetic Mario Masuku who contracted pneumonia while in jail (Burrow, 2017).
This was a great wake up call, that many countries do not have it as easy as the United States does, when it comes to striking.
18 hours ago
Jian Sun
Week 8 Discussion: The impact of the strike on the hotel industry
Last week, Marriott staff in Detroit, Boston, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco began a strike; this Monday (October 1). Marriott employees in Maui and Oahu, Hawaii, joined the strike team. There are
currently 7.700 Marriott strike employees, including room attendants, front desk attendants and most non-management staff. The strike was organized by the Hotel Trade Union Confederation after the workers' contract with the
world's largest hotel chain, Marriott International, expired in July and August.
Marriott is the richest and most profitable hotel company in the world. In 2017. Marriott's net profit was $22.9 billion. Since the 2008 economic crisis, its profits have increased by 279%, while employees' annual salary has
only increased by 7%. In many cases, after the hotel staff wholeheartedly serves the hotel customers, they have to rush to another job because the treatment given by the hotel is too low. If they do not work two jobs, they will not
survive. The launch of the strike campaign against Marriott will make it possible to improve the living conditions of employees throughout the hospitality industry. (Unite Here Chairman D. Taylor)
The impact of the strike on the hospitality industry did not only occur in the United States, but the global hotel industry suffered heavy losses during the labor strike. Especially if the strike occurs during the tourist season,
like some special festivals. Many hotels were unable to provide food and beverages for the guests in time due to labor strikes. The rooms could not be cleaned up in time, which caused the guests to stay and pile up, which had a
great impact
Throughout the world, in fact, strikes caused by unfair welfare benefits are not uncommon. Large-scale employee strikes have occurred in many hotels around the world. A very famous example is strike at Grosvenor Hotel in
Sheffield, England on December 15, 1976. Another, in 2016, the Empress Hotel in Hong Kong, because the new room takes longer to clean, the cleaners think the workload is already overwhelmed. At the trade union meeting:
97% of the union members voted for the strike. At the same time, the restaurant and front desk staff also joined the strike team. The union said that the two sides could not reach an agreement, the employees hope to increase
wages and increase the holiday, but the hotel side thought that they had fulfilled the original agreement and there was no mistake. The strike caused the tourist season, and the Empress Hotel was basically in a state of heavy
lockout. They urgently recruited temporary workers to supplement personnel. The strike lasted for a week. Finally, the two sides reached an agreement to reform the wage system and the strike was resolved.
References
Wood, S., & Pedler, M. (1978). On losing their virginity: the story of a strike at the Grosvenor Hotel, Sheffield Industrial Relations Journal, 9(2), 15–37. Retrieved from https://jwupvdz.idm.oclc.org/login?
url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=4672346&site=ehost-live&scope=site
(n.d.). Meetings & Conventions. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.jwupvdz.idm.oclc.org/apps/pub/3094/PPTH?u=prov43712&sid=PPTH
Margaret, G. (2014). The great chicago waiters' strike : Producing urban space, organizing labor, challenging racial divides in 1890s chicago. Journal of Urban History, 40(6), 1079-1098. doi:10.1177/0096144214536864
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