I am a member of UNITE HERE local 1 in Chicago. For the last 2 ½ years I have been patiently waiting for our union to settle contract disputes with the hotel I work for. 1800 of us are.
When the contract first expired I was with the union, wanted to fight for pay increases and to make sure that the hotel didn’t implement a two tier healthcare system, where new employees would get a different level of care than those of us who were already here. The hotel caved and we won the increases, a year after the contract expired. UNITE HERE then presented us with another set of demands, including card check, stricter sub-contracting language and the right to continue to boycott during the contract period. These are not things I support, nor do many of my coworkers–but as I found out–the union doesn’t care what I want.
I started telling my reps last summer that I wanted the contract settled immediately. I was calm rational, and told the right people. They told me they don’t represent me, that I was the only one who felt that way, and if I wanted to change something I would need to start a petition.
In December management came to us after a negotiation meeting, telling us that our healthcare coverage was in jeopardy, and that they had offered to extend it as long as UNITE HERE agreed to end its boycott–UNITE HERE refused. At the end of January, management came to us again, it had decided to continue our coverage indefinitely, even though the union refused to end its boycott and blatantly put its own needs above the needs of its rank and file. As the meeting ended I was asked about a petition I had talked about circulating, forcing the union to represent us. I told everyone I would have it by noon. It was clear to everyone, from that moment, that UNITE HERE was more interested in its own agenda then its members, and maybe Hyatt wasn’t the demon they were making them out to be.
Not more than a day after I started gathering signatures on an open letter asking the union to represent us and sign the contract, the reps came out in full force telling people that they were not only signing their rights away, but going against everything they stood for. They intimidated a small number of people, and even worse, they convinced people that their voice would never be heard. Many gave up and resigned themselves to being tools for UNITE HERE’s propaganda machine.
UNITE HERE uses the tactics of fear, intimidation and coercion to keep the rank and file in check.
None of their arguments really added up for me so I read the contract for myself, many of us did. Whenever I asked for the union side of the contract I was told that someone would tell me about it, rather than letting me see for myself. Completely dissatisfied, and armed with the support of my coworkers, I decided to attend the negotiation meeting–I was shocked and appalled by what went on in that room.
Henry Tamarin fired up his base by letting them know how Hyatt had been weakened, proudly talking about the NFL and 40 democratic congress people joining in with their boycott–he told his reps that their hard work had cost Hyatt approximately a million dollars in a month. When the caucus adjourned one of the reps from my hotel, a woman I work with every day, walked up to me, pointed her finger in my face and said that if I was going to be here, I would have to sit on the company side of the room. She told everyone who could hear her that I was only there to get a promotion, become a manager, have my write-ups removed and that Hyatt had put me up to this. I tried to tell her that what she was doing was intimidation, that I was there to represent my coworkers, the ones she refuses to see. But a small crowd had gathered and I had seven or eight hard core union reps yelling at me and telling me that no matter what they would continue fighting.
Hyatt and its lawyers were finally allowed in to the room, and the crowd was drawn off me. I did as I was told–took a seat behind the hotel’s managers and listened attentively, but nothing happened. No negotiating took place–there was only arguing about letting the rank and file have a vote on the proposed contract. Mr. Tamarin stated that when the employees get to vote for their managers he will let them vote for the contract.
Mr. Tamarin proved several times in the meeting that he not only wasn’t interested in negotiating but also had nothing to add. He presented no real offers and threw a temper tantrum when Hyatt asked to have a meeting in March, preferring not to wait til late April (the only date Mr. Tamarin was willing to accept).
Hyatt brought up the issue of pay increases and retro pay, Mr. Tamarin was all too happy to tell the hotel that they should grant the increases now (But if we get our increases without a contract, and we get our healthcare without a contract, why would we need UNITE HERE at all?) The hotel did not agree to that. In the end it came to a lot of shouting and digging in further, and all the hope I had for settling this went out the window.
Before I got involved I couldn’t understand why UNITE HERE worked off of some arcane model–requiring its members go to meeting after meeting in order to have their voice heard. But it is done intentionally to keep the hard workers away. Those that disagree don’t want to take their time to go and get shouted down in a union hall.
Our shop stewards are carefully picked, groomed, then appointed; and if you don’t immediately hop on board they shun you. They love the chant, “this is what democracy looks like,” but is it? Hyatt workers don’t have time for this nonsense, we have lives outside of work, families and friends–we just want to go to work–get paid and go home.
My coworkers and I are tired of being financially burdened with UNITE HERE’s battle costs. We want a settled contract and peace in our workplace. I am one of just under 200 in my hotel, with 1800 in the four Chicago Hyatt’s. They tell me that we are such a small number we don’t count, that they know what’s best. But the reps in my hotel won’t just give us the facts, let us vote, and then properly represent us in all future meetings.
It is long past time to settle this dispute. UNITE HERE needs to join us in the information age, upgrade its systems, and stop trying to rule by decree in our workplaces. Stop doing what’s best for just the rank and file, before we realize we don’t need them anymore.
Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:30 am by 
