Long Beach Hyatt Regency, Long Beach Hilton Losing a Convention Because of UNITE HERE Local 11 Boycott Call

By Gustavo Arellano Mon., Dec. 6 2010 at 2:30 PM

Categories: Long Beach

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UNITE HERE Local 11 makes the most local news for its years-long dispute against the Disneyland hotels, but it represents other workers, too. And they just scored a symbolic victory for the workers they represent at the Long Beach versions of the Hyatt Regency and the Hilton.

UNITE Here has called for boycotts of the two hotels, and one group has heeded the call: the California Association for Bilingual Education, which was supposed to have its conference in March this upcoming year but has now moved it somewhere else.

"School districts, presenters, and our membership, many of whom are union members, made it clear to us that they would not attend our conference at hotels where there is ongoing labor disputes and a boycott," CABE CEO Maria S. Quezada stated in a press release that UNITE HERE Local 11 put out. And so on, and so forth, and Cesar Chavez and honoring the line--those press releases write themselves.

In other Unite Here news--no developments on the Disney hotel worker talks. Stay tuned...

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GO Union!! I work(ed) for Disney for 19 years. Thanks to the union, I got descent perks and raises......until 2008. At that point, we had a contract that terminated. We were negotiating with Disney for a new contract. Thew ONE AND ONLY thing that was important to most of us was MEDICAL. Disney WOULD NOT BUDGE. They would not give us any descent medical. We had some GREAT medical coverage for years. Disney only pays their top CEO over $24,000,000/year. They can't afford to give us descent medical coverage. The last time I received a raise was in 2007! No union contract, no raises. Go Union!!! Si se puede = Yes we can!!!!
It is important to clarify that while the two hotels are not part of our conference the 37th annual California Association for Bilingual Education's conference will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center from March 23-26, 2010 and is not canceled as was previously reported. It is our 37th year of providing professional learning opportunities for educators and parents of English Learners throughout California.
To Dweezle: Just to clarify. I am not a manager at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. I am an hourly associate who's been working here since the hotel opened. We work as one family in the hotel. We do not need anyone to tell how to run OUR HOTEL!
Rose & Frank: The Maids, The Cooks, the Maintenance Staff, their jobs will still be there, perhaps their Tip income will be down, but the Jobs will still be there. Justin: From your comment, I would gather you are management, the ones that are fighting against organizing... and Union Representation. Lets talk about the BONUS and other Perks you stand to lose out on by paying the REAL WORKERS better wages I'll wager your x-mas bonus would be 4 or 5 digits non-union while the workers would be 2 to 3 digits. Mafia? HA, that legend was invented by Hollywood Writers. Union Income is watched too closely to make any operations profitable by any organized crime syndicate. The real Mafia makes its money from Trash Collection and its' Health Care Agencies! Come on, Rose, Justin, Frank Talk & Anonymous 1 & 2 stop hiding behind Anonymous ID's we already KNOW who you are... If Gustavo was to check your IP I could be safe in Betting they originate from the Office Management Staff at the 2 hotels... I am NOT an officer or member of UNITE, I am a proud member of IUOE Local 12!
All previous posters = idiots. Get the sheep to accept low wages and poor working conditions. Bash those unions! Yep, you'll work for less than you're worth! That'll teach 'em all!
Perfect plan. Discourage conferences from the area so that nobody works. That'll teach em'... those capatilist pigs!
Union = Mafia. Don't take it personal, it's just business.
Why hurt the workers? At the end of the day a boycott only takes money out of the pockets of the workers. If the California Association for Bilingual Education was really serious in supporting the Hyatt Regency hotel workers they would not had cancelled its conference. Rather, they should go forward with the conference and take some kind of action at the conference to show support for the Hyatt Regency workers. It does not take that much imagination to figure out the many actions that could be taken.
I work at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach and I am very lucky and happy to have a job in this hotel. We are not a union hotel and do not intend to be. Why can't UniteHere leave us alone? Taking business away from us means taking money away from us. Is UniteHere that selfish? Why won't you get a real job and work hard like the rest of us? All you do is trying to unionize us so you can take our dues for your salaries? Taking business away from us IS NOT FAIR! Leave the Hyatt Regency Long Beach alone!!!!
So, you think you hurt Hyatt and Hilton? You're wrong!!! You are hurting the employees - the people that you are suppose to fight for! Cancelled business means no work hours for employees. No work hours means to paycheck! Is UniteHere going to pay the employees bills? Think people!!!