Hotel Employees Picket Providence Renaissance

It seems that the new boss is the same as the old boss at the Renaissance Hotel in Providence.

The Renaissance was made famous not for its stellar customer service, but for this now infamous YouTube video of Joey DeFrancesco quitting his job with the help of the What Cheer? Brigade.

Joey quit his job over wage and tip theft being perpetrated by the management of the hotel, and he subsequently worked with State Representative Chris Blazejewski to craft legislation to make the practice illegal.

But the Rhode Island based Procaccianti Group has taken a cue from the former owners of the hotel and continues to treat workers poorly slashing wages and promoting unsafe working conditions and practices.

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Workers say the hotel has always treated them poorly, but that conditions further deteriorated since the Procaccianti Group, a national hotel management company, took over the hotel in December 2012. The Hotel’s top management remains the same. Employees say they have had enough. They are demanding a voice on the job.

Raquel Cruz a housekeeper, said: “When the new owners took over, they changed the chemicals we use to clean rooms. The new chemicals make it hard to breathe and most housekeepers have rashes up and down their arms. They never trained us how to use them properly. We are all worried about the long-term damage they will cause to our bodies.”

Hipolito Rivera, houseman in the Hotel since it opened in 2007, described a day in the laundry: “The laundry department is so understaffed that a few workers have to rush to complete the jobs of  several people. Employees leave exhausted everyday, muscles aching unbearably, with hands that are becoming permanently damaged from having to continually rotate between the hot industrial ironer and the cold, wet sheets and towels.”

One housekeeper, Santa Brito, was fired from the hotel just 2 weeks after giving birth. The hotel relented and gave her job back, but only after a complaint was filed with the Department of Labor. Adding insult to injury, management then refused to provide her with employment verification papers that she needed to purchase a house.

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