Unions these days face steep challenges in organizing. The increasing size and international character of major businesses like hotel chains is one of the major challenges. Hotel Workers Rising is an innovative effort to turn this challenge on its head. UNITE-HERE has worked for years now to ensure that contracts for its locals in several key cities – including Boston – expire at around the same time in 2006. This maneuver has allowed the union to gain extraordinary leverage in its contract renewals this year. UNITE-HERE is now encouraging the hotel chains where its workers are already organized to adopt card check agreements (which make union organizing significantly easier) for all of their other, non-unionized locations.
The union is having a kick-off event for the campaign this weekend. Stand in solidarity with UNITE-HERE and Boston area hotel workers at the Boston Ritz Carlton hotel on Sat., Feb 18 at 11:30 am. Further details are available at http://www.dfacambridge.org/node/121
Whether or not you can make it to the kick-off event, make sure to sign up for the campaign’s mailing list at http://www.hotelworkersrising.org/signup.asp
And make sure to stay at union hotels! Visit http://www.unitehere.org/hotelguide/ to find unionized hotels.
FULL DISCLOSURE: One of my friends works for UNITE-HERE.
