The most poignant and politically instructive story I covered in 2014 was the shameful treatment of the Providence hotel workers who, having successfully petitioned the Providence City Council for the right to place a $15 minimum wage measure on the ballot, were frustrated in their effort by the General Assembly, under the leadership of the newly elected Speaker of the House, Nicholas Mattiello.

The situation for many hotel workers in Rhode Island is bleak. Some hotels pay wages that are close to a living wage, but many do not, most notably the Hilton Providence and the Providence Renaissance, which are mired in a labor struggle with its staff. Both hotels are managed by The Procaccianti Group (TPG) a multi-billion dollar real estate and investment company headquartered in Cranston, Rhode Island. Properties managed by TPG are notorious for extracting profits from investments by keeping wages low and treating employees as disposable commodities.

Hotel employees organized by Unite Here Local 217, have been demanding fair wages, humane working conditions and a union. The hotels have responded punitively, firing high profile and vocal organizers such as Krystle Martin, Adrienne Jones and Marino Cruz.

The hotel workers worked hard last winter and spring to collect the 1,000 signatures needed to compel the City Council to consider putting a $15 minimum wage ordinance for hotel workers on the November ballot, presenting their petition on April 10. The City Council held public hearings on the measure on May 27. Though the ProJo tried to convince the public that there were dozens of speakers on both sides of this issue, in truth there were 22 speakers in support and only five hotel lobbyists speaking against the measure.

But the hotels lobbyists still have power. They have so much power that the Providence Ordinance Committee cancelled a meeting to decide on the measure under pressure from… who knows? To this date no one has explained exactly why City Councillor Seth Yurdin cancelled the meeting. Rumor has it that Mayor Angel Taveras, who was planning a run for governor, was anxious to present himself as a friend to corporate interests, but of course, the mayor has no power to compel the cancellation of city council meetings.

What is known is that nearly one hundred hotel workers, their families and supporters made huge efforts to be at the City Hall that night, arranging child care or dragging their kids with them, getting to the City Hall by bus, carpool or walking, losing out on valuable paid work or rare time off in the process. Because the meeting was cancelled at the last minute, the hotel workers ended up in an empty City Hall, with no one to hear their case.

It is thought that actions to stall the passage of the measure were used because, despite the pressure on the City Council by corporate interests, early handicapping revealed that the measure would pass if put to a vote. In addition, polling indicated that Providence voters were quite receptive to the idea of raising the minimum wage for struggling workers.

So despite the financial and political power of the forces opposed to the measure, things were going well for hotel workers in Providence.

Enter ALEC

It’s pretty well known that Mayor Taveras had mixed feelings about the hotel worker’s minimum wage bill. It seems he did not want to be known as the kind of mayor who vetoed such popular measures, but he also did not want to end a promising political career by angering monied interests.

Fortunately for his future plans, Taveras avoided having to address the issue thanks to State Representative Ray Gallison, a “Democrat” from District 69, covering Bristol/Portsmouth. Gallison introduced House Bill 8276, which would take away the power of cities and municipalities to set their own minimum wages, effectively blocking the hotel worker’s efforts. According to a House spokesperson, Gallison’s bill was a direct response to the hard work and determination of the hotel workers, who had followed the rules and used the democratic process in an attempt to enact a positive change.

Gallison’s bill was modeled on legislation pioneered by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, what Bob Plain called “the right wing bill mill that drafts corporate-friendly legislation for state legislators.” Why would a Democrat introduce a right-wing bill that caters to corporate interests by keeping hard working people in grinding poverty? I don’t know, because Gallison refused to respond to my requests for clarification.

Gallison’s mistake, however, was putting the proposal out in the form of a bill. A bill needs to be debated in committee, which invites public commentary and media scrutiny. A bill, introduced in the House, must also be passed in the Senate. That means more public commentary and media scrutiny. A bill requires each and every legislator to vote on it and essentially declare themselves for corporate interests or struggling workers. A bill would have to be ultimately signed by the Governor. All that democracy engenders uncertainty and becomes a huge problem when a multi-billion dollar corporation is demanding that something be done to protect its bottom line.

So Gallison, under the direction of the Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, removed his bill from consideration and slipped the measure into the budget. As a budget item, the measure is just one little part of a huge pile of legislation that is passed all at once as an up or down vote. Legislators can say things like, “I don’t support every part of this budget, but as a whole it strikes a compromise I can live with.”

The budget passed the House and the Senate with barely a word spoken against the measure. One notable exception was Representative Maria Cimini, a Democrat. She introduced a measure to amend the budget and undercut Gallison’s ALEC inspired end run. The measure failed. In retaliation for this and other progressive sleights, Speaker Mattiello endorsed Cimini’s opponent, Dan McKiernan, in the Democratic Primary, successfully unseating her.

On June 13, the same night the House passed the budget, the Providence City Council, under the leadership of Michael Solomon, passed a measure putting the $15 minimum wage bill on the November Ballot in what amounted to a symbolic gesture. The efforts of the City Council didn’t matter. The deed was done. On June 16 the Senate passed the budget. All that was required now was Governor Chafee’s signature.

Still, the hotel workers did not give up. Amazingly, hotel workers Santa Brito, Mirjaam Parada and Yilenny Ferreras along with Central Falls City Councilor Shelby Maldonado (now a State Representative) organized a hunger strike, camping outside on the State House Steps for days as the Governor contemplated signing the budget into law.

I visited the hunger strikers every day. I can’t speak highly enough of their determination and grace. On June 19, day three of the hunger strike, Governor Lincoln Chafee signed the budget into law, effectively ending the effort that had started months ago as hundreds of people collected thousands of signatures in order to get a bill placed on the November ballot that would have improve the lives of countless Rhode Islanders.

Since that day, economic prospects in Rhode Island have steadily worsened. Rhode Island has the highest poverty rate in New England. Despite such dour news, the idea that the General Assembly, following Mattiello’s lead, might do anything this coming session but cut assistance programs to the poor is almost laughable. Only 27% of the jobs in Rhode Island pay enough for a family with two children to survive on. The rest of Rhode Islanders are the working poor, disposable commodities for the rich to use, abuse and toss aside when broken.

When Rep Ray Gallison first introduced his ALEC inspired bill to cut off the efforts of the hotel workers to improve their lives, Santa Brito, housekeeper at the Providence Renaissance and hunger striker said, “House leadership is moving to jail us in poverty.”

Who would have thought that Rhode Islanders would stand by and actually let that happen?

The protesters entered the Providence deli at noon and temporarily stifled the business to the consternation of the manager on duty. “Get out!” she yelled.

“We’ll leave when you pay your workers what they are owed,” replied one of the protesters.

“What you’re doing is illegal,” said another.

Gourmet Heaven is owned by Chung Cho, and he runs two other Gourmet Heaven outlets in New Haven, Connecticut. There was also a Gourmet Heaven on Meeting Street here in Providence, but it recently closed. In New Haven, Cho has been charged with “42 felony and misdemeanors” for wage theft, and was “arrested twice for discrimination and retaliation related to these claims.”

Labor activists here say Rhode Islanders are owed more than $100,000 in minimum wage and overtime pay. Phoebe Gardener, organizer at Fuerza Laboral, a workers’ rights center in Central Falls, has filed claims here in Rhode Island for seven workers.

After about five minutes of protest inside Cho’s downtown deli, the Providence Police Department arrived and the protesters left the store. But they continued to picket and chant outside Gourmet Heaven on the Weybosset Street sidewalk for the next hour, seriously impacting business. Flyers are distributed to passersby explaining the reason for the protest.

This protest was marked by excellent, artful signs and a few fun touches such as a rat mask and Hulk gloves.

In Connecticut, Cho reached an agreement with the Department of Labor to pay $140,000 in back wages to 25 workers, but has so far not made his payments in a timely manner. There are reports that the New Haven stores are in the process of closing.

In November, Mohamed Masaud, manager of Weybosset Street Gourmet Heaven, claimed that there were no such violations going on in Providence.

Gardener and Jesse Strecker of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, claim to have found ten workers who are owed thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars in back pay. All told, it is asserted that over $100,000 in minimum wage and overtime pay is owed to workers here in Rhode island.

“I worked grueling 84 hour weeks, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day on the night shift, from 7pm to 7am,” said Pedro Us in a written statement, “For all that work, and on the night shift, I was paid only $360 a week, way below minimum wage and with no overtime.”

Pedro Guarcas worked, at both the downtown and Meeting St locations of Gourmet Heaven. Guarcas claims that while on the job, he suffered workplace injuries and physical abuse.

“The managers pressured us to work so fast that I slipped and fell down the stairs twice and hurt my foot badly. This past April, the kitchen supervisor… punched me in the stomach when I was taking out the trash, but when I reported it to the store manager, he didn’t do anything about it.”

Guarcas claims that he worked 72 hour weeks for less than $400 a week, a paltry $5.50 an hour and well under Rhode Island’s minimum wage. Guarcas did not file any complaints because he has “a family to feed and it is hard to find another job.” Now that he no longer works for Gourmet Heaven he is speaking up in the hope of collecting his lost wages and because he wants justice.

Guarcas and another former Gourmet Heaven worker from Rhode Island, as well as a former worker from Connecticut, spoke at the protest. In addition George Nee, president of the RI AFL-CIO, James Riley, Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Local 328, Providence City Councillor Carmen Castillo and union organizer Marino Cruz, recently dismissed from his job at the Providence Renaissance Hotel for his unionization efforts also spoke briefly to the protesters.

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Marino Cruz was fired by the management of the Providence Renaissance Hotel last week, and in the process, had a minor heart attack. While recovering in the hospital, management had a restraining order delivered to him. Cruz maintains that the reasons management gave for dismissing him are trumped up and that the hotel management really wants him out of the way because of his efforts to unionize the hotel and his outspoken criticism of the racist way in which the hotel treats its employees.

The protesters were not just demanding Cruz’ reinstatement, they were there to demand fair wages, decent working conditions and plain old human decency on the part of The Procaccianti Group, the management company responsible for many hotels in Rhode Island and throughout the world.

Toward the end of the protest, things got heated as the protesters contended the seemingly arbitrary line between public sidewalk and hotel property. Nearly a dozen Providence police officers, with private hotel security hanging back, clashed with protesters in sometimes heated, but ultimately non-violent confrontations.

Providence City Councilperson Carmen Castillo was marching with the protesters. Castillo is a fierce advocate for worker’s rights, having helped to organize a union at the Westin Hotel around 15 years ago. When she attempted to enter the hotel lobby, a police officer physically prevented her entrance by grabbing her arm and threatened with arrest. As can be seen and heard in the video, Castillo was not very pleased by this. In the next video we hear Castillo addressing the protesters.

Andrew Tillet-Saks, an organizer with Unite Here, explains to the assembled protesters the reasons for the rally outside the Renaissance in this video.

Speakers at the protest included Marino Cruz’ daughter, Jennifer, and his wife, Raquel, who also works as a housekeeper at the Renaissance.

Also on hand was Adrienne Jones, who shared the news that the National Labor Review Board (NLRB) found in her favor when it ruled that the Providence Hilton fired her because she was trying to start a union, not for any deficiencies in her work.

Juan Garcia, one of the strongest voices in the immigrant organizing community, spoke about the unfair and racist treatment of Hispanics by The Procaccianti Group. Garcia spoke in Spanish, but I have added the on-the-spot translation provided by Unite Here’s Andrew Tillet-Saks.

The last video features Juice Kelley, with an impassioned message for all workers.

Hell yeah!

There was no other press at this event.

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Update: There will be a Rally for Marino 6:30pm Wednesday outside the Renaissance Providence Hotel, 5 Avenue of the Arts, Providence. See the link for details.

Marino Cruz, a 35-year-old houseman at the Providence Renaissance Hotel, was called into his manager’s office last Wednesday and told that he was being fired.

Cruz objected, and argued with management about the reasons for his termination. “Their story kept changing,” he said, “and when they fired me, they accused me of more things. They tried to get me to admit to false things.”

The real reason the hotel management wanted him fired, claims Cruz, is because he is a leader in the effort to unionize hotel employees for fair wages and decent working conditions.

The meeting to fire Cruz soon reached a breaking point. “The combination of shock and excitement gave me a small heart attack, so they [the management] called me an ambulance to the hospital,” says Cruz.

At Rhode Island Hospital, where PVD emergency services brought him, the doctors found that there was damage to Cruz’ heart and they kept him for just over 24 hours, running further tests. Cruz is awaiting the results.

Marino Cruz does not speak much English, and I speak no Spanish, so our interview was conducted with the help of an interpreter. He’s worked at the Providence Renaissance Hotel for three years, and has three children. Fortunately for Cruz, his wife’s job provides health care for the family.

While he was in still in his hospital bed, two Providence police officers entered with Cruz’ wife and presented him with a restraining order from hotel management. He’s due in court on December 18. This is why nearly 30 people picketed outside the Renaissance Hotel last Thursday in the pouring rain.

“They’re trying to take me out of the fight,” said Cruz. A restraining order will keep Cruz off the picket line and away from hotel employees. “I couldn’t imagine that they would put me out on the street just for fighting for justice.”

He said, “the situation at the hotel is getting uglier.” Employees are not only suffering from low wages, excessive workloads and copious injuries, he said, they also suffer “the disrespect of the management” that treats people as replaceable and disposable.

At the Providence Renaissance Hotel, housekeepers, mostly women, are worked hard. They are responsible for cleaning more rooms in a day than housekeepers at other area hotels, and they are paid much less, minimum wage or pennies more. Injuries to the back, shoulders and hands are affecting more than half a dozen workers. Some have rashes on their faces and skin from the harsh chemicals used to clean the rooms. There is “an epidemic of women’s bodies just giving out with permanent injuries,” Cruz said.

As one of the few leaders of the unionization effort not injured, Cruz has been vocal about these issues in meetings with management. Cruz believes that this is why management decided to target him. When he’s punched in, Cruz does his job. When he’s off duty, he organizes, pickets and strategizes ways to improve working conditions at the hotel.

The Providence Renaissance Hotel is run by The Procaccianti Group, which also manages the Providence Hilton. They have a long history of treating employees less than fairly. In March I profiled Adrienne Jones and Krystle Martin, two single moms targeted and fired for their unionization efforts. In May I reported on how the hotel lost its gay-friendly rating. The Procaccianti Group was one of the key lobbyists pushing through the state ban on minimum wage increases by cities and municipalities. The Renaissance is currently being boycotted by those committed to fair wages and working conditions.

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