On August 31, 2009, Hyatt fired its entire housekeeping staff at three non-union hotels in the Boston area, replacing women who had worked at Hyatt for decades with workers from a temporary agency. Many of the fired workers report that Hyatt required that they train their replacements. Their replacements now earn minimum wage and clean as many as 30 rooms a day. Few if any of the subcontracted workers receive health insurance.

The story of the “Hyatt 100” represents just one dramatic example of how Hyatt’s aggressive use of subcontractors is destroying good jobs. Using subcontractors allows Hyatt to pay housekeepers poverty wages while evading legal liability for unsafe working conditions or hiring undocumented workers. In Indianapolis, San Antonio and many other cities, Hyatt has continued to expand the use of subcontractors.

In response, unionized Hyatt workers have been in a protracted contract fight with Hyatt, taking action and even striking to curb the company’s ability to outsource jobs.

See a profile of Hyatt’s use of subcontractors in the Huffington Post: “Poor and Poorer: As Hotels Outsource Jobs, Workers Lose Hold On Living Wage.”

Read more about the campaign to Bring Back the Hyatt 100.

Jewish clergy nationwide have done an investigation and issued a full report on the problem of outsourcing and other Hyatt abuses: Open the Gates of Justice: A Clergy Report on Working Conditions at Hyatt Hotels.

Hyatt Outsourcing and Health and Safety Violations

To date, OSHA or its state counterparts have issued 3 citations against two of the Hyatt’s housekeeping subcontractors at two hotels, alleging violations of safety regulations that protect housekeepers and other employees. The agencies have proposed fines of more than $50,000 for Hyatt’s subcontractors.

hotelworkersrising.org, Wed Sept 14 2011