Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
Domestic workers around the county are uniting in a campaign to create international labor standards for domestic work through the passage of an ILO (International Labor Organization) Convention on Domestic Work.
“Domestic workers (housecleaners, nannies, and elderly care givers) are left out of most basic labor protections and as a result are left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation on the job,” said a written statement released by the leadership of Mujeres Unidas y Activas in San Francisco.
Domestic workers are excluded from or discriminated against by most labor and employment laws, adds the document, affirming that domestic worker’s exclusion from the National Labor Relations Act, means they are unprotected when asking for respect of their basic rights and are unable to collectively bargain for conditions allowing them to labor in dignity.
In the U.S. domestic workers are not only organizing to win an ILO Convention, they are also advocating in state and federal government.
Hotel workers start boycott of Westing Hotel
Hotel workers take to the streets this morning at the W hotel, launching another boycott of a San Francisco hotel. Hundreds of workers are expected to participate in this two-day informational picket, ending Thursday at 10:00 p.m.
Today’s action comes as hotel management companies continue to press for a contract that would slash health and retirement benefits and would increase workloads. “We’ve proposed the cheapest contract in the union’s history while the corporations continue to make millions in profi ts,” said John Elrod, bartender at the W Hotel since it opened in 1999. “I think the hotel workers have sacrifi ced enough.”
In July 2009, the W Hotel was bought by Asian conglomerate, Keck Seng for $90 million or about $223,000 per room. The W is managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts [NYSE: HOT], the same company that manages the Palace, St. Francis, and St. Regis hotels. Starwood earned $180 million in profits during the fi rst nine months of this year, and its stock price has risen 66% since January 1.
The union has indicated a willingness to settle for a contract that would result in as little as a 1.5% increase in payroll costs – or less than $140,000 for the W.
“There has never been a question of whether they can afford what’s on the table,” said Mike Casey, President of Local 2. “The question is whether these companies will make a business decision that’s in the best interests of workers, the City, and the hotels themselves.”
Activist truck was vandalized CodePINK Women for Peace truck was attacked and damaged early Sunday last week.
According to a An unidentified white male took what appeared to be a sledge hammer several times to the front wind-shield, the side and rear view mirrors and frame, and the passenger side window, shattering glass and bending the frame.
CodePINK activists reported they were not surprised by this increase in violence, indicating it corresponds with the increase of violence against Afghanistan and claiming that the violence of war cannot be contained to what they called “U.S. defi ned ‘war zones’”.
“The increased violence of the U.S. military ‘surge’ against Afghanistan as directed by President Obama, reverberates throughout the planet and this local vandalism is merely a refl ection of the vibration of violence entering our everyday life,” says CodePINKer Grace Severtson.
