4,300 San Francisco hotel workers, at 14 hotels, have been locked out of their jobs since October 13th. The lockout started as a limited strike at four San Francisco hotels, and is related to ongoing negotiations with hotel chains in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The success of the UNITE union in these negotiations will affect future contracts in places across North America. The workers have been visited on the picket line by John Edwards and Jesse Jackson.
San Francisco has traditionally been a strong union town, and what happens to the workers here will end up affecting hotel workers across the country. If corporations can win here, they can win anywhere.
The main issue, as in the recent grocery workers strikes, is health care. Through a variety of ways, hotel employers are trying to foist health care costs onto their workers.
This result of this will mean, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, a monthly health care premium of $ 270 a month by the end of the contract. The current premium is $10 a month. The extra $260 dollars a month means workers will pay an extra $3120 a year in premiums.
The San Francisco UNITE Local 2 is asking people to boycott hotels in San Francisco that are locking out their workers. I've listed the hotels and the corporations involved in the extended copy.
big bay
San Francisco Hotels: Argent Hotel, Crowne Plaza Union Square, Four Seasons, Fairmont, Grand Hyatt Union Square, Hilton San Francisco, Holiday Inn Civic Center, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf, Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center , Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental, Omni Hotel, Sheraton Palace, Westin St. Francis
Hilton Hotels: Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites and Hampton Inn
Inter-Continental: Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Staybridge
Starwood: Sheraton, Westin, Luxury Connection, St. Regis, Four Points
Four Seasons: Four Seasons Hotels
Fairmon: Fairmont Hotels
Hyatt: Hyatt Hotels
Omni: Omni Hotels
Destination Hotels and Resorts: Argent Hotel (San Francisco), Hotel del Coronadao (San Diego), The Monarch Hotel (Washington D.C.), Ritz-Carlton (Pasadena)