unite here – RI Future

September 19, 2016September 20, 2016

Pawtucket school lunch workers call one day strike for Friday

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The Pawtucket school lunch workers will hold a one day strike on Friday September 23 to highlight the importance equal pay for women if no Agreement is reached. In an effort to avoid the strike, the Pawtucket school lunch workers will be negotiating with their employer, Aramark Educational Services, LLC after school on Thursday, September 22.

The 81 school lunch employees earn only $0.76 for every $1.00 earned by a male doing comparable work. Ethan Shorey wrote in The Valley Breeze that Jenna Karlin, of the Local 26 that Unite Here! “prepared the comparison of 76 cents for women to $1 for men by using publicly available data of the Pawtucket school support staff positions that are primarily filled by men (custodians) and the pay rate data members have for local school lunch members… The figures compare the hourly pay rates.”

On September 8 employees of Aramark voted 100 percent to strike. The workers have also unveiled a mural showing photos of 73 school lunch workers who are ready to strike.

The call for equal pay comes weeks after Massachusetts’s Governor Charlie Baker signed a pay equity bill into law making the circumstances occurring in Pawtucket illegal in Massachusetts. The School Lunch employees in Everett, Massachusetts inspired this new law as part of their fight for equal pay.

The Pawtucket School Lunch workers demand for equal pay comes at a healthy time for the School Lunch Program. The Program’s revenues, in addition to funding all Program expenses, allows Aramark to take over $250,000 back to its out-of-state headquarters every year.

In addition, Aramark has also asserted the right to make changes in work conditions, including changing employee hours, unilaterally, without a contract. This action is currently under legal challenge.

Jayne Rainville, Lead Cook at Jenks Junior High, stated: “I can’t believe that Aramark is treating us this way. Enough is enough. We deserve to be treated fairly.”

Carolyn DeOliveira, Lead Cook at Nathaniel Greene Elementary School, said, “I pour my heart and soul into my job because I care about the kids. Aramark is trying to take advantage of our passion. Like I taught my kids and my grandkids, there comes a time when you have to put your foot down and stand up.”

Kate Massey, at Shea High School, said, “I do this work for the kids. For too many, we serve the only meal(s) they will eat all day. The way Aramark is treating us, makes it harder for us to take care of the kids.”

June 23, 2016June 23, 2016

Labor concerns over RI’s GEM Realty investment

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The RI State Investment Commission voted to invest $20 million with GEM Realty Capital, despite the company’s claim that the health and safety of employees at the Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel in Los Angeles, one of the many properties owned by the company, is not something they can have any affect on.

GEM Realty describes itself as a real estate investment company that invests in “private-market real estate assets and publicly traded real estate securities”. At the meeting on Wednesday morning, two GEM Realty representatives admitted that there were problems at the Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel, but said that as they are not the majority investor in the enterprise or involved in the day-to-day management of the business, there is little they can do to effect positive change in the way workers are being treated at the properties they invest in.

Treasurer Seth Magaziner lead the questioning of the company reps about the allegations of unsafe and un-sanitary labor conditions at the hotel and Commission member Marcia Reback asked about the use of a firm known for union busting to prevent workers from unionizing. The GEM Realty reps assured the Commission that the union-busting firm was no longer employed by the hotel and that the health and safety issues were in the process of being resolved via the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

On April 25 employees filed a complaint with the CA Division of Occupational Safety and Health complaining about the hotel’s failure to provide safety equipment to employees charged with cleaning medical waste from Sofitel Los Angeles Hotel rooms. Many guests receive treatment at a nearby hospital and leave medical waste behind. Though management shows an instructional video every year about the proper disposal of needles and bloodied linens, employees say “the hotel does not provide the safety equipment shown in the video”.

The Sofitel LA Hotel has also drawn “multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges that are currently being investigated by the regional office of the NLRB alleging that since employees raised the health and safety issues, hotel management has responded by threatening and surveilling employees and in one case illegally firing one of the employee leaders,” says Jim Baker coordinator for Unite Here. These case can be accessed here.

Then there’s the class action lawsuit seven employees have brought against the hotel alleging wage theft. Business Wire reports, “Six of the plaintiffs allege being paid less than the minimum wage while working at the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. A former barback, as well as three housekeeping workers, a banquet worker, and a restaurant server, allege that management underpaid or have been underpaying them by up to $5.37 per hour.”

Aside from the allegations of deplorable labor practices, there may be sound financial reasons to avoid investing in GEM Realty, says Sam Bell, executive director of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America, has concerns about the very idea of private equity investments for our pension funds.

“With their high fees, private equity investments are a bad deal for our pension fund,” says Bell, “As Treasurer, Gina Raimondo, who made her fortune in this controversial industry, made a big move into high-fee funds, and that decision continues to drive our pension fund’s poor performance. Seth Magaziner campaigned on a new kind of politics. Expanding private equity investments, while other funds are pulling out of high fee options, would represent a move back to the aggressively pro-Wall St. policies of the previous Treasurer.

“Real estate private equity funds are especially poor choices, given their distinctive record of pushing policies that hurt American families,” says Bell, ” In the case of GEM Realty Capital, it is aggressive violations of workers’ rights that stand out, but across the real estate investment industry in general there is a serious and pervasive culture of immorality.”

Though the GEM Realty reps were asking for a $30 million investment from the state, the board seemed to feel that a $20 million investment was more in line with their investment strategy.

December 18, 2014December 18, 2014

Hotel workers stage Marino Cruz protest at the Renaissance

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As Mayor Angel Taveras and Mayor-elect Jorge Elorza enjoyed a celebration of “the great city of Providence and what it has to offer” at the the neighboring Veterans Memorial Auditorium with entertainment by Ravi Shavi and The ‘Mericans and catered by hip food trucks last night, more than 50 protesters marched and chanted outside the Providence Renaissance Hotel for hotel worker Marino Cruz.

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.

Support Steve Ahlquist!

March 17, 2014March 18, 2014

Krystle Martin: Another single mom union organizer fired by Hilton Providence

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Krystle Martin is the third leader of the unionization effort at the Hilton Providence to lose her job.

Last week Bob Plain ran a piece detailing how two leaders of the unionization effort at the Hilton Providence had lost their jobs. Now that number is three. I previously profiled Adrienne Jones here, and covered Friday’s union action here. This is Krystle Martin’s story.

Martin is funny and optimistic, with an easy smile and a quick wit. She comes from a family with a strong union and military background. Her grandmother was in the Telephone Workers Union and her father was in the Laborers Union. She’s a hard working single mom, part of the blue collar, working class that builds, protects and maintains this country. I seriously doubt that many people reading this would want to switch places with Martin, swapping the challenges of their lives for hers. She lives every day on the edge of extreme poverty, where a missed paycheck or a missed day of work can mean the difference between eating or not eating, sleeping in your home or being homeless.

Martin was first hired to work at the Hilton Providence Starbucks, but after a few weeks she was offered the chance to be a server in Shula’s 347 Grill, the restaurant above the Starbucks. For those unfamiliar with food service, this move offers the potential of a big increase in pay. Though being a barista at Starbucks can pay a few dollars more than minimum wage, working as a server in a nice restaurant can bring in much more money in tips, even though you might make less than $5 an hour without tips. Martin needed this opportunity because she was pregnant, and needed the money.

Instead of working as a server, however, after training Martin was given the task of delivering room service, bussing tables (which requires carrying between 35 and 45 pounds of dishes from the table to the dishwasher in back) and expediting orders. (Expediting is adding the final touches to a meal, such as garnishes, and grouping the meals together to be delivered to the guests.) Needless to say, the tips for these duties were not what Martin expected.

Lifting heavy bussing trays full of dishes is not an optimal job for a woman over six months pregnant, but when Martin objected she says, “I received sarcasm from management when I presented a doctors note that stated I couldn’t lift more than 15 pounds.”

After presenting the note, Martin says was approached by a fellow server holding a bucket of clean dishes.

“Can you hold this for me, Krystle?” asked her coworker.

Martin took the bucket of dishes, not sure exactly what was going on, but she was beginning to suspect.

“That’s fifteen pounds of dishes,” said her coworker, “that’s what we expect you to carry.”

Martin asked for light duty, but was denied. She went into preterm labor twice, at 26 and 34 weeks, but still the hotel would not accommodate her. Customers would stop Martin on the floor of the restaurant and ask her if she was okay being so visibly pregnant and bussing tables. Martin just smiled and shrugged it off. She needed the job and needed the money: complaining to customers was not going to help her keep her job. Keep in mind that these are often long shifts of 12 and 13 hours, and breaks were rare, never mind the fact that they are required by law.

Finally, perhaps reacting to the concerns of customers or perhaps having finally found some sense of decency, management deigned to put Martin on light duty which consisted of hostessing and what Martin calls “light” bussing. Light duty lasted for three shifts, because Martin went into labor 11 days early, and delivered a healthy baby girl.

A single mother, Martin could not afford to miss work. Also, the Hilton told her that she might not have a job if she came back to work in six weeks. So less than 48 hours after leaving the hospital where she gave birth, Martin was back to work at the Hilton Providence Starbucks. Here she ran into new problems.

“Before I gave birth and before I returned to work, I’d stated my intent to breast feed my daughter, and upon my return to work, I immediately stated that I was breast feeding my daughter and would need time to pump milk during my shift.”

Working 12 and 13 hour shifts, Martin never got more than two chances (15 minute breaks) per day to pump her breast milk, and despite the law saying that she should be given a secure and designated area for the purpose, she was forced to pump her breast milk in the restroom of the coffee shop, “so that I wouldn’t be too far away from the store at the time.”

This is when serious talk of forming a union started to percolate among the hotel staff. According to Martin, “Management reprimanded us when we spoke out about mistreatment within our departments, inadequate working conditions, labor issues, unfair/illegal labor practices, tip theft and discrimination.”

Searching for a second job to supplement her income was also a difficult option. Martin says was told that if she secured a second job she would have to tell the hotel management so that they could cut her hours.

“I told management that I was not going to tell them if I did get another job or not, because it was none of their business. I said that whatever I do with my time, while off the clock, and away from the Hilton is my personal life. It is my personal business, and it is not their concern. Management insisted that I was required to tell them if I got another job, because they didn’t want me working so much and intended on cutting my hours if I did.”

Of course, if the hotel paid decent wages and treated its employees with respect and dignity, workers like Martin might not need a second job.

On February 17 of this year, Martin says she was interrogated by her department manager, regarding “signatures.” It was obvious that management knew she was a member and leader of a union committee and was out collecting signatures from her coworkers with the intent of forming a union. The next day Martin says she was told by Hilton Providence Human Resources Manager Amanda Robataille that she was being suspended, pending termination. Martin says that Robataille had returned to work in early January after taking six weeks off for maternity leave.

Martin was suspended just four hours before the hotel worker’s first public action: the attempt to deliver a petition to the hotel management declaring the worker’s intent to form a union. Though delivery of the petition was rebuffed by Hilton management, a union was formed that day. Now the pressure needs to stay on The Procaccianti Group, the company that owns the Hilton, so that the union can be recognized and contract negotiations begun.

After the union action Martin was reinstated in her job, only to be suspended again a week later. As she awaits a decision as to whether or not this suspension is permanent, Martin has learned that the Hilton Providence has already run a job listing searching for her replacement. Effectively, she’s been fired.

“I am tired of not being able to afford both child care and rent, even though I work more than 30 hours a week,” said Martin. “Most of the days I work, I am working shifts in excess of 12 hours, without being able to take a break, because there aren’t enough employees on shift for me to be able to do so. I don’t receive welfare, housing assistance, WIC, or section 8. I live in a building that is contaminated with lead paint, but I am being told by other landlords and realtors that because I don’t have enough verifiable income, I’m unable to move into a new place. Because I don’t have a realistic and livable wage, I cannot afford to live in a healthy home, which my daughter, myself, and every other human being in the United States is entitled to.

“I am fighting for fairness and respect. I am fighting for the recognition of the hard work that workers do on a daily basis. I am fighting for fair wages, so that my coworkers and I can afford to provide for our families. More importantly, I am fighting to be allowed the ability to be the mother that my daughter needs and deserves.”

March 15, 2014March 17, 2014

Workers demand human rights at Hilton Providence

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The first thing I noticed as I approached the Hilton Providence on Friday evening was the rented U-Haul truck parked conspicuously between the sidewalk where unionizing workers were staging their protest and the main entrance to the hotel.

The truck, placed so as to spare hotel management and guests the sight of underpaid and overworked employees advocating for fair wages and treatment, became a source of amusement and jokes among the protesters. When a gigantic 18-wheeler rumbled by emblazoned with a large “Teamsters” logo, chants of “We’ve got a bigger truck!” began, followed by laughter.

To highlight the abuse of workers rights alleged to take place at the hotel by the workers on the picket line, the protesters held a mock funeral for the United States Constitution. The document had a good run, said the protesters, only to be murdered by the Prociaccianti Group that owns and manages the hotel. Speaking in memory of the Constitution were Adrienne Jones, interviewed here at RI Future last Monday, and Krystle Martin, whose interview will be on this sight shortly, as well as many other workers and Providence Councilperson Carmen Castillo.

Since the unionization effort began, three union leaders have lost their jobs at the Hilton Providence and eight workers have been reprimanded, according to the organizers, so the Prociaccianti Group appears to be playing union busting hardball. Two of the fired workers, the aforementioned Jones and Martin, are single moms, leading some on the picket line to assert that the Hilton is targeting single mothers, who are more vulnerable economically. It’s hard to imagine more deplorable behavior.

Forming a union is an essential human right, and whatever efforts the hotel is undertaking to squelch the union is morally indefensible. The Prociaccianti Group is already bleeding business. The Unitarian Universalist General Assembly is bringing thousands of people to the Providence area this Summer, and they are not staying at the Hilton or the Renaissance (where workers are also batting for their right to unionize) in response to the hotel’s treatment of its workers. More groups are sure to follow.

Meanwhile, local media, including the rapidly declining Providence Journal and local TV news continue to ignore the plight of workers fighting for their rights, leaving coverage of this developing story to the Brown Daily Herald and RI Future. Stories about real human suffering and economic exploitation are beneath their notice, it seems.

March 11, 2014March 17, 2014

Hilton employees say at least two have been fired for supporting union

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Adrienne Jones isn’t the only one. According to a press release from Unite Here Local 217 two people have been fired from the Hilton Hotel in Providence for supporting an effort to form a union and several others disciplined. Nick Spino, who delivered room service, was the other.

“Since workers presenting management with their petition February 18^th, management has terminated two public leaders for arbitrary reasons, suspended-pending-termination another, and issued arbitrary discipline to no less than seven workers at the forefront of the workers’ campaign for better jobs,” according to the release from Andrew Tillett-Saks.

The email said a follow-up action – a “‘mock funeral for the United States Constitution’ to bring light to the hotel’s trampling of workers’ freedom of speech” – involving “terminated workers, their co-workers, and other area hotel workers” is being organized.

Earlier this week, Steve Ahlquist reported that Adrienne Jones feels she was fired for supporting the effort to organize a union. Krystle Martin, a barrista at the Hilton Starbucks agrees.

“The company is firing many of us who they see as leaders of the efforts to make these livable jobs,” she said according to the press release. “We shouldn’t be mistreated at work just because we want to have decent jobs. Bottom line, this is illegal but they think they’re above the law.”

Watch video and see pictures of the Feb. 18 action here.

August 21, 2013August 22, 2013

Activists to protest hotel’s $9 million tax break

Union activists and Providence residents plan to protest the Renaissance Hotel in Providence at 4:45 today because of a $9 million tax break they say the business gets from the city. The protesters plan to present hotel management with an over-sized gag check for $9 million they want them to sign over to city residents.

Here’s the press release from Andrew Tillett-Saks, an organizer with Unite Here Local 217 for a detailed account of why people are taking to the streets:

Dozens of Providence residents and area workers will hold a demonstration on Wednesday demanding that corporate welfare immediately end for the luxury Renaissance Hotel. Several organizations will participate in delivering an oversized ‘check’ to Renaissance Hotel Management to symbolize the nine millions dollar tax exemption the hotel receives from the City of Providence, as well as holding a demonstration outside of the hotel to protest the tax break for the controversial employer. The Hotel is scheduled to receive an additional tax savings of approximately eight to ten million dollars through an agreement with the City, extracting benefits that go far beyond its original purpose. The attendees believe that Providence will be better off without corporate handouts going to failed projects like 38 Studios or successful luxury hotels, and specifically decried the tax exemption for the wealthy Procaccianti Group which has recently come under scrutiny for its treatment of its workers at the hotel.

The Providence City Council introduced an ordinance to review the Renaissance Hotel’s tax break in the month of July. A tense standoff has ensued between The Procaccianti Group, who stand to lose millions if the tax exemption is repealed, and many Providence residents who feel the exemption is unfair and bad for the city.

Despite the December 2012 change in ownership to The Procaccianti Group, the corporate tax breaks have stayed in place. “Why is my employer, a multi-million dollar hotel company who’s paying lower taxes than a Providence small business, paying me such low wages?” questioned one Renaissance Hotel employee Santa Brito.

“This is the City’s version of the 38 Studios fiasco,” said Juan Goris, a Providence resident in attendance at the demonstration. “Hard-working tax-payers keep bearing the burden while the rich give nothing back.”

The tax breaks continue to be provided at a time when the RI unemployment rate is still one of the highest rates in the country. Meanwhile, many Providence residents who have found work, are still struggling to make ends meet. According to the RI Kids Count 2012, over 35% of the children in Providence are part of families living below the federal poverty line.

Meanwhile, Providence for several consecutive years has been struggling to balance its budget – threatening the quality of public education, and city services like parks and policing. Most recently, the City felt forced to raise homeowner taxes approximately 6% citywide. As a result, homeowners in some of Providence’s poorest neighborhoods will see their yearly property tax bill rise hundreds of dollars. Previously, the City successfully negotiated increased payments in leiu of taxes (PILOT) with several of the City’s tax exempt institutions, like Brown University and Providence College. It also renegotiated Agreements with City workers for further savings.

Originally, the Tax Stabilization Agreement was approved in 2003 as a way to redevelop a blighted area in the heart of the capital city, an unfinished, size adjective, Masonic Temple that had been abandoned since 1929. At the time, the project was praised by Mayor Cicilline and City Council members. During the original passage, one council member explained the purpose of the Agreement: “This is about providing good jobs for our residents as we continue to spur new economic development activity in Providence.”

Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor unions and community groups, will be sponsoring the demonstration.

The Cranston City Council recently stopped The Procaccianti Group’s proposed Phenix Lodge luxury apartment complex. One of the Council’s concerns was whether or not the project would actually generate revenue for the City assured by The Procaccianti Group.