Feminist Looking Glass

Over 9,000 San Francisco hotel workers have been working without a contract since mid-August 2009 at several Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood, and InterContinental Hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The workers are being denied affordable health care.   After failed negotiations, the workers are taking the step of calling for a boycott of their own workplaces.  Specifically, they are calling for boycotts of the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf, Grand Hyatt, Le Meridien, The Palace, Westin St. Francis, Hilton (at O’Farrell), and the W Hotel.  More hotels are expected to be added.

In June, thousands of LGBT people from across the country are coming to San Francisco for the Gay Pride events.  The hotel workers asked the LGBT community to support the boycott and one of the ways the community responded was with a flashmob.

At the Westin St. Francis Hotel, a gay couple went to the front desk.  One of the women suddenly shouted to her wife, “Honey, I just  realized we can’t stay here, this hotel is under boycott!” Her partner promptly turned around and burst into song: “Oh-oh-oh-oh-NO! oh-oh-oh! We’re caught in a bad hotel!”  People came from other parts of the lobby, from the restaurant, and from outside to join in the song.  The song itself was put together by an LGBT group.  The music was a takeoff on the Lady Gaga song “Bad Romance” and the music was played by the Brass Liberation Orchestra.  Here is the video.

After the performance concluded, one of the organizers told all of the bystanders what the boycott was about.  Then the group “danced their way out of the hotel” and went down the street to repeat the performance at the Grand Hyatt.  It ended with a picket line outside the hotel.

I think that’s a great way to launch a boycott.  Let’s hope the workers have success.

Filed under: GLBT, Health, Workplace Tagged: | Boycott, Gay Pride, Hotel Workers, San Franxisco, Unions