by news services
Hyatt Regency workers march during a three-day strike. (photo by Marvin Ramírez)
Four hundred hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco walked off the job Tuesday morning to protest Hyatt’s ‘moves to squeeze workers even harder despite significantly improving hospitality revenues and rising share values, according to Union Local 2. Workers will return to work on Friday morning.
The Hyatt Regency strike comes after nearly ten months of negotiations and demonstrations to secure a new contract for 9,000 San Francisco hotel workers and their families. “We think that’s long enough,” said Cynthia Reed, a telephone operator at Hyatt Regency. “Hyatt’s growing and making more money every day, and we’re not going stand by and let that come at the expense of workers and their families. If they move forward, we should too.
”This is the second strike at a San Francisco Hyatt in recent months. Workers at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square walked out November 5, 2009 – the same day Hyatt became a publicly-traded company, earning its owners nearly $1 billion. It also comes amid mounting unrest for Hyatt throughout North America. On May 26, 400 workers at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago walked off the job protesting workload increases.
