Dear Friends:
We are writing to ask you to support Hyatt Hotel workers with your signature. The Jewish community has many options for hotels that provide kosher food and whose housekeepers are protected by their unions. Therefore our stay at any hotel is an endorsement of the labor practices of that hotel.
The August, 2009 firing of 98 housekeepers (and their being replaced by subcontracted workers earning half the wages) at three Boston Hyatt hotels was so egregious that it prompted rabbis across the country and the governor of Massachusetts to call for a boycott of these three hotels unless the “Hyatt 100” are rehired.
A delegation of rabbis and Jewish community leaders led by Rabbi Barbara Penzner met with Hyatt executives in December, 2009 to ask that the housekeepers be re-hired and the Hyatt Corporation treat its employees fairly in their hotels across the country.
While hotels are returning to profitability, the Hyatt hotel corporation is seeking to lock many of its employees into long-term poverty and suffering:
A 2010 study of 50 hotels across the country showed that the Hyatt hotels studied had the highest injury rates for housekeeping staff of the hotels studied.
In San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles, Hyatt has proposed long term contracts that would drastically curtail or eliminate health benefits for its employees.
In Indianapolis, San Antonio, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Long Beach, workers have asked for a fair process to choose whether or not to join a union without employer intimidation. Hyatt has refused. We are deeply concerned for the welfare of these workers as well as the Hyatt workers in Vancouver, Toronto, Honolulu, Washington DC and Burlingame, CA, who will likely face cuts to their health coverage as their contracts expire, based on Hyatt’s response to contract negotiations elsewhere. We ask you to take a stand for justice and join Jewish leaders in signing the statement of support.
Click here to sign on to the statement :: View a list of supporters
Rabbi Elliot Dorff (C)
American Jewish University
Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Bruce Elder (Ref)
Congregation Hakafa
Glencoe, IL
Rabbi Ronne Friedman (Ref)
Temple Israel, Boston, MA
Rabbi Jonathan Klein
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-LA), Los Angeles, CA
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Rabbi Robert Marx
Founder, Jewish Council
on Urban Affairs
Chicago, IL
Rabbi Barbara Penzner
Temple Hillel B'nai Torah (Rec), Boston, MA
Rabbi Jonah Pesner (Ref)
Chestnut Hill, MA |
Rabbi Yael B. Ridberg (Rec)
West End Synagogue
New York, NY
Rabbi Brant Rosen (Rec)
Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation
Evanston, IL
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz (O)
Founder, Uri L'Tzedek
Los Angeles, CA |
Institutions are listed for identification purposes only.
The Torah commands us “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer” (Deut 24:14), and the Rabbis later teach that employees have a right to organize and demand just conditions and compensation for their labor (Tosefta Bava Metzia 11:24).
We cannot stand idly by as the housekeepers and hotel workers of the Hyatt Hotels stand to lose their hard won and fair compensation. The call to pursue justice (Deut. 16:20) demands that we stand with these workers so that they don’t slip into poverty.
Therefore, we, the undersigned concerned rabbis, cantors, and community leaders, call on the owners and leadership of Hyatt Hotels to commit to the Jewish and universal obligations to treat workers fairly and to recognize the value of their labor. We call on all Jewish institutions and individuals to support Hyatt workers in their disputes, and we express our willingness to boycott Hyatt properties in support of these principles if requested to do so by the affected workers. |
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