A guest contribution from Catholic Labor Network member Tony Miller

When the Richmond Times Dispatch asked Marty Barnett about why she supports the effort to unionize, she said, “We are not peons. We are human beings” and “We need to be respected — and that doesn’t just go for me or [the people who work at] this hotel — it should be a global thing.”

Think about the last time you or your family stayed at a hotel.  Most hotels in America are charging anywhere from $150 to $300, some more, per night.  In today’s economy, that is a lot of money to spend for 48 hours in a hotel room you barely use.  You probably checked into a hotel room that was far cleaner than your room at home, housekeeping is tough work.

If I told you that for $300-$600, the lady who cleaned that room back to excellence only got $6-$7, how would you feel about that?  Worst of all, she was probably forced to clean that room in under 30 minutes, and then told to clean up to 20 more before her day was over.  Hotel owners generate tons of cash, but they typically pay their hardest working folks very low wages.  How can a housekeeper with children afford to live on $6 per room cleaned?

On Thursday Sep 29, Hotel Workers United successfully filed their Petition for Certification with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  Our first hotel we seek to organize is the Hampton Inn Richmond West Innsbrook in Glen Allen, VA.  The hotel has about 18 total employees.  We have gathered cards from many members of the team including housekeeping, front desk, and breakfast hostess.  Marty, pictured above, is a breakfast hostess. We not only hope to win an election, but to negotiate with ownership for better wages and working conditions.

We know the owners of large hotel portfolios can afford to pay more, and we want to continue to raise awareness and support around our organizing efforts.  For more information, please visit www.hotelworkersunited.com or email us at [email protected].

Chateau Marmont workers get union; Farm workers get vote by mail

Recent weeks have witnessed some big wins for California workers! Employees of Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont hotel have secured union membership, while farm workers won the right to vote by mail in union certification elections.

Workers at the Chateau Marmont, famous as a hideaway for Hollywood celebrities, had been seeking to join UNITE HERE Local 11 (the Los Angeles area hotel workers’ union) for years. In a blistering 2020 story, The Hollywood Reporter painted a picture of a toxic work environment in which ill-mannered guests harassed and abused staff, and management treated workers with disrespect. As workers began to organize they encountered mass layoffs attributed to the pandemic. This led to a boycott of the hotel. In December 2021, workers told their story to area faith leaders in a “listening session” hosted by the Catholic Labor Network and LA CLUE at nearby Blessed Sacrament Parish.

On August 25, the union reported:

We are thrilled to announce that UNITE HERE Local 11 and the Chateau Marmont have agreed upon a fair process that determines whether a majority of workers in certain classifications have chosen the union as their representative. A few days ago, after a neutral arbitrator validated the results, the Chateau Marmont promptly recognized UNITE HERE Local 11. All prior disputes have been laid to rest. Both UNITE HERE Local 11 and the Chateau Marmont are pleased with this new relationship. Our bargaining committee will soon commence negotiations for our first contract.

Meanwhile, for years the United Farm Workers have pressed for reforms of union election procedures under California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act. (While most private-sector workers won the right to organize in 1935 under the National Labor Relations Act, farm workers were excluded from NLRA jurisdiction. California is one of the few states that has passed legislation giving farm workers the express right to organize in unions and bargain collectively.) Under the existing law, farm workers were obliged to vote for or against union representation in-person on the grower’s property – conditions ripe for intimidation.

The United Farm Workers called for allowing farm workers to vote by mail in union elections. Last year Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have permitted this. He threatened to take similar action this year, leading the union to organize a farm worker march from Delano to Sacramento under the blazing August sun. The marchers received extensive support from both the California Federation of Labor and the California Catholic Conference, and the Catholic Labor Network organized its Golden State members to write Governor Newsom in support of the bill. In late September, Newsom relented and agreed to sign the bill.

Congratulations to both the Chateau Marmont workers and to California’s farm workers on their hard-fought victories!

Most of the workers that keep an airport running – from cabin cleaners, to wheelchair attendants, to food service workers – are employed by contractors, not the airport itself. In the absence of clear and fair labor standards in contract solicitations, vendors slash worker wages and benefits to the bone to submit the lowest bid.

That’s why dozens of airport workers rallied in late September at Washington DC’s National Airport (actually located in Arlington, Virginia). They were calling on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), which also operates Dulles International Airport, to incorporate fair labor standards in their contracts.

At National and Dulles Airports, UNITE HERE represents most food service workers while the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) represents cabin cleaners, security guards, wheelchair attendants and other support personnel. Most of these contractors fail to provide paid sick days or offer affordable family health care coverage to their employees. The two unions came together to organize the rally, held during an MWAA board meeting.

The Catholic Labor Network has heard testimony from SEIU Local 32BJ members concerning the lack of paid sick days, and is supporting the workers’ demands from the MWAA board.

Domestic workers are falling through the gaps in our labor and employment laws. That’s why the Catholic Labor Network recently joined dozens of nannies, housekeepers and home-based health care workers from the District and beyond, visiting DC Council members and urging them to support a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights.

Back in the 1930s, when our country passed the National Labor Relations Act (giving workers the right to organize in labor unions) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (setting the federal minimum wage), domestic workers – who were primarily women of color – were excluded from coverage. This exclusion set a pattern, and domestic workers have been excluded from much labor and employment legislation since that time. Consequently, domestic workers have organized in many cities and states to seek remedial legislation.

In Washington DC that legislation takes the form of the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act of 2022. The Act would amend the DC Human Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination and sexual harassment, to include domestic workers. It would also extend the protection of Washington DC’s occupational safety and health law to cover domestic workers, and guarantee these workers a written contract of their terms of employment, which should reduce the frequency of wage theft in this sector.

All work has dignity, whether performed in an office, factory or someone’s home. The Catholic Labor Network has marched alongside the domestic workers throughout 2022. In February, the Catholic Labor Network hosted a “listening session” for faith-based activists in the District of Columbia, where domestic worker Antonia Surco related her experience as a domestic worker. In June, the Catholic Labor Network joined the domestic workers and other faith leaders offering testimony in support of the Act during its hearings in the Labor Committee.

The bill has been assigned to three committees for markup before it is eligible for a vote by the Council.

CLN Testifies in Support

The right of workers to form unions and bargain collectively is one of the first principles of modern Catholic Social Teaching. Pope Leo XIII first enunciated this right in his 1891 Encyclical Rerum Novarum, and Pope Benedict XIV reaffirmed this teaching in Caritas in Veritate, arguing that “the repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum [60], for the promotion of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must be honoured today even more than in the past.” Neither Leo nor Benedict distinguished between public and private employees in their exercise of this right.

That’s why the Catholic Labor Network was pleased to support the workers of Prince William County, Virginia, who are seeking union rights.

The Prince William County workers are part of a wave of public employee organizing in Virginia. Until recently, Virginia law forbid public workers from forming unions and engaging in collective bargaining – but a recent law allows cities and counties in the Old Dominion to pass ordinances granting those rights. Workers in the capital, Richmond, and a number of Northern Virginia jurisdictions have won this right in recent years.

Several Prince William County workers testified in support of union rights at a September Prince William County work session, backed by dozens of their colleagues. “Passing collective bargaining rights is a historic moment for Prince William County employees. If we get this right, we can address high turnover rates across the county, inequities in pay and bargaining, and improve the services that we provide,” said Kim Finn, a licensed practical nurse for Prince William County’s Adult Detention Center. “Since this will impact our rights at work, we want to have a say in what is included in this ordinance.”

Clayton Sinyai, speaking for the Catholic Labor Network, supported the workers’ demands for meaningful collective bargaining rights.