According to the Coalition and to Leigh Shelton of UNITE HERE Local 11, despite doing the same work as other housekeepers at the hotel, the "Hilton 5" were paid via an intermediary agency that provided them with lower wages, no benefits, erratic schedules, and inequitable job demands.

Aug. 10, 2011

LONG BEACH - HEI workers and students from universities, which invest endowment money in HEI, are protesting the mistreatment of workers by HEI Hotels, the 7th largest hotel management company in the U.S.  Protests are focusing on the company's pattern of punishing actions against "whistle-blowers"--workers who speak up about their working conditions.

Three recent incidents highlight what happens to HEI workers when they speak up about their working conditions.  Here in Long Beach, community groups have been protesting for months over the April 20 firing of five housekeepers after three of them raised concerns with management about unfair working conditions. The housekeepers had also been participating in an ongoing state investigation into the legality of their employment arrangements.  They were paid under the table without a legal paycheck.

The community has rallied to the support of the fired housekeepers, collecting hundreds of dollars at a June fundraiser at Pizza Pi restaurant and staging various rallies in support of the whistleblowers.

“The community is demanding more from the HEI Hilton Long Beach,” said Annette Quintero, a Long Beach Good Jobs Coalition Steering Committee member. “This hotel cannot cheat the system, use these women for cheap labor, then throw them away when they speak up about unfair conditions. The pillow cases demonstrate a growing body of Long Beach residents who understand how badly this hotel treats its workers and stand with the workers.”

Students and workers also drew attention to other examples of whistle-blower punishment in HEI.

On March 30, 2011, a jury ruled unanimously that a former Senior Vice President was retaliated against for filing a complaint with the government for age discrimination. He was ultimately awarded in $4.5 million in damages.

On May 11, 2011, a doorman from the HEI Sheraton in Northern Virginia went to HEI's annual investors' meeting to present a worker's view of HEI's business approach. When he returned, he was interrogated and disciplined at work for his involvement in the meeting.

"It's not fair that we work hard, and then get thrown away like garbage," said Maria Medina, a former housekeeper at the Hilton Long Beach, who was fired just two days after she and two other women spoke out about unfair working conditions to the hotel's human resources director.

HEI Hotels is an investment company that owns and operates more than 30 hotels across the country.  It buys hotels and employs a range of techniques to drastically cut costs — a process that workers say comes at their expense. HEI has raised over a billion dollars in capital from university endowments such as those of University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Yale, Harvard, Princeton and more.

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ANAHEIM – Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim and UNITE HERE Local 11 reached a tentative contract agreement yesterday, Aug. 4, ensuring affording healthcare and raises for the Disneyland-area hotel’s 220 workers.

The contract agreement comes about a month after workers from the nearby Anaheim Hilton settled a similar agreement for its 770 workers. Meanwhile, the 2,100 hotel workers at the Disneyland Resort have been struggling for three years to reach an agreement with the same basic rights.

“I am proud to work for the Sheraton Park Hotel,” said Jesus Villa, a Sheraton Park cook. “We are very proud to have negotiated a fair deal that respects the rights of the workers and the success of the hotel.”

IRVINE – Housekeepers at the HEI Embassy Suites staged a day-long protest Thursday, July 28, calling for an end to “on our knees” cleaning and backbreaking bed-making practices at their hotel.

Housekeepers said they need safer working conditions, including access to simple tools like fitted sheets and long-handled tools to do their job. The hotel workers and allies rallied in favor of California Senate Bill 432, a proposed law designed to prevent housekeeper injury, and asked HEI to support the measure.

SB 432 (De Leon) seeks to end hotel practices that require housekeepers to scrub bathroom floors on hands and knees, an unsafe and degrading practice tolerated by too many employers. This practice, combined with the failure to provide fitted sheets like those used in homes, has led to an unacceptable rate of back and other work-related injuries.

“By the end of the day, my wrist throbs and my shoulders ache from lifting mattresses,” said Argelia Rico, a housekeeper at the Embassy Suites. “Fitted sheets would make our lives much easier.”

Studies show that hotel workers have an injury rate 25% higher than all service workers, and among hotel workers—housekeepers experience the highest injury rates. In a survey of over 600 housekeepers, 91% of housekeepers reported having suffered work-related pain.

“These ladies don’t play in the NBA but their injuries would keep LeBron James out of the NBA Finals,” said bill author Senator Kevin de León. “These injuries are preventable and so we must change the industry standard.”

The state Senate approved SB 432 in June. The Assembly is expected to vote on the bill in August.  Housekeepers throughout the state are collecting postcards to send to Gov. Jerry Brown urging him to sign the bill.

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