Home / NEWS / Front of House / Hyatt workers go on strike in North America

Hyatt hotel workers staged a walk-out Friday in four North American cities including Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles and Toronto according to The Chicago Tribune.

The coordinated one-day strike was organised by Unite Here, a labour union, which claimed the protest was over cuts in health care benefits and raises, despite improving results in the hotel industry.

Unite Here spokeswoman Annemarie Strassel said the union is in multiple contract negotiations with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide and the Hyatt, but it chose to target the Hyatt because the Chicago-based chain, which is controlled by the wealthy Pritzker family, has made "the most regressive proposals," according to the report.

Story continues below

Advertisement

COMMENT Comment on this article

Hyatt results have improved substantially over the past year. The company's cash flow jumped 17.1% in the first half of 2010, to US $247 million from $211 million during the same period a year ago. Revenue per available room, a key measure of health in the hotel industry, increased 9.7% in the first half.

A press release from the union said that the Hyatt is trying to forge new contracts that will "make the recession permanent for its employees, despite significantly improving industry conditions."

In a statement, the company said, "While we have come to expect a certain amount of union posturing during negotiations, we are disappointed that rather than engaging in productive negotiations at the bargaining table, the union is choosing instead to disrupt business at Hyatt."