The City of Cambridge, Mass., has moved to create an ordinance that will effectively bar hotels from outsourcing in-house jobs, the first ban of its kind in the country.
The ordinance will require any large hotel seeking a license to prove that its workers who regularly enter guest rooms are directly employed by the hotel and not by an outside labor agency. Although the regulation has not yet been written, the city’s licensing commission voted 2-1 on Tuesday to move ahead with it at the behest of city council. …
Cambridge City Councilor Marjorie Decker says the impetus for the ordinance was the 2009 mass firing of housekeepers at Hyatt hotels in Cambridge and Boston. At the time, 100 housekeepers were let go and replaced with new workers who earned about half the pay and had no health benefits. The incident caused such an uproar that Gov. Deval Patrick (D) called for a boycott of Hyatt.
Here is the key paragraph:
Decker says that she didn’t face much opposition to the ordinance from the hotel industry, with most local hotel operators telling her they wouldn’t outsource jobs anyway. She also says the ordinance will probably exempt hotels with fewer than 100 rooms, since such small operators would likely know all the staff working on their properties, even those who aren’t direct hires.
This is basically a small community fighting to protect local businesses and the people who work there. Chains like Hyatt take profits out of the places where they operate and send them, in its case, to Chicago (where they are used to help get Barack Obama elected, but I digress) or wherever they happen to be headquartered. Cambridge, led by Decker on this issue, is smart to use regulation to keep more of the money at home.
liveandletlive says
we have to stop the downward spiral of the way workers are treated and valued. This country is about more than just profit-taking.
jconway says
Doesn’t seem like this really changes anything since it sounds like, from Decker’s own admission, that Cambridge hotels were already in compliance. So this is election year posturing from an artist of the form. Similar to her harassment of a local doctor who owned Wal-Mart stock, meanwhile millions are spent on the worst racial discrimination case in recent city history and the bigoted culprit is promoted and reward with the largest public salary in Massachusetts, larger than Governor Patrick’s whom he would never hire. Where was the friend of the worker then? Oh that’s right she skipped the closed hearing and avoided the issue, an issue where she actually has the power to affect change. That said kudos David to bringing attention to the Chicago Hyatt workers who are breaking records for longest strike in the industry, the fact that scabs so easily work at Hyatt, that workers were so easily fired, shows why this issue is important and I wished people would do something concrete instead of passing symbolic resolutions like this one.
stomv says
Cities and towns try something. If it works, if it sticks, if others are interested… other cities and towns do it too. Still got mo-jo? A version becomes state law. Etc.
I’m not wading into the other issue to which you allude — an issue I know nothing about. I’m simply disagreeing with your assessment that the resolution is merely symbolic.
judy-meredith says
And you’re right Marjorie is the best. Assuming what you mean by posturing is clearly pointing out an injustice and targeting a big business screwing over workers and promising to stop it where ever she can.
She’s good at it in non election years too.
jennanndoe says
Dismissing the work Mass NOW and Job with Justice to hold bad actors in our community accountable does not help your cause. Councilor Decker helped shine a light on someone who is accountable as a Wal-mart Board Member for the actions of a company he is paid to manage. This company just limited women’s right in sue for discrimination not only for their own employees, but for whole country. As for this ordinance, this has teeth and will be the first in the country to protect consumers and create accountablity for hotels. This will affect one hotel in Cambridge- Hyatt and will keep others from following suit.
Thank you Councilor Decker for all your help- we know that this is beyond “campaign stunts” and shows a commitment to making sure all workers and community members are treated fairly.
jconway says
I’ll apologize for my biannual attacks on Decker, lots of people I respect and consider friends are close friends and supporters of her for various reasons, and I am trying not to be personal about it. But it seems that attacking a doctor, unprovoked, instead of talking to him, meeting with him, and convincing him what he is doing is wrong, is not the mark of a statesman. Similarly, while this resolution is good as an example to other cities (looking at you Chicago City Council!) where it would make a bigger impact, it doesn’t have a big impact on Cambridge. Hell, I agree with Councilor Decker on most issues, I just feel that her perspective is to always focus on national issues (her frequent injection of foreign policy into council debates-an area where the council is completely powerless) to rally the leftists in the city, instead of actually focusing on improving the conditions at the local level. Healy’s racist reign must finally end, and I can think of few who have done more to wreck the city for the sake of private interests. There is no development he doesn’t support, no developer he doesn’t befriend, and no local opposition he doesn’t steamroll. The councilors should be his boss not the other way around. The Montero suit shows that we are literally paying millions for his arrogance and incompetence, and if Terry Francona can get fired for being unable to manage an unmanageble team than Healy should get the axe for the disgrace he has brought to the city. It was his police department that arrested Gates I might add. His development policy that has used gentrification as a new redlining tool to squeeze the poor and brown out of our fair city. To squeeze out local businesses that had generations of local clientele in favor of chains that cater to students who will only live here for four years. Kelley and Seidel are just as progressive and I would argue a lot more effective and realistic at seeing what is wrong with Cambridge and how to fix it. Councilor Cheung has done a decent job of it too. Decker and Reeves like grandstanding over substantive discussions of what is really going on around the city since its a lot easier and involves a lot less political risk.