Lorain Public Library & SEIU Agree to Cuts to Save Jobs

L to R: Linda Meredith (SEIU representative to Levy Committee), Joanne Eldridge (Director, LPLS), Toni Whitney (Asst. Director, LPLS), and Kevin Corcoran (Levy Chair).

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — In a unanimous vote Thursday evening, the Lorain Public Library System board approved an agreement with the Service Employees International Union Local 1199 that will cut 20 employees.

The 20 jobs cut will come from an early retirement incentive, voluntary and involuntary layoffs. This is a decrease from the 32 jobs cut proposed earlier by the system and rejected by the union.

To help reduce the number of jobs lost, the union agreed to a wage freeze through March 31, 2011, and the discontinuation of health care bonuses for part-time employees.

One of the key parts of the agreement, said SEIU Local 1199 president Linda Meredith, was that for each early retirement or voluntary layoff, it meant one less person would be laid off. The early retirement incentive includes those taking it getting 100 percent payment for unused sick time, up to 800 hours. Still, she said, “There are no winners here.”

Meredith borrowed from Wednesday night’s State of the Union address, saying the library system faced a “deficit of trust” on the part of the communities they serve.

“One-third of the people who help them will be gone,” she said. “The public is the biggest loser here.”

As soon as the board came out of executive session at the North Ridgeville branch library, voted on the agreement and adjourned, Meredith, a children’s librarian at the Lorain branch, submitted a letter declaring her intention to take the early retirement incentive. She said she was doing it in the hopes of saving someone else’s full-time position.

“It’s hard,” Meredith said with tears in her eyes while the board was in executive session. “I’ve got 22 years here. It’s a bittersweet parting.”

Solidarity News at Radio Labour

RadioLabour presents "Solidarity News" - a 20 minute audiocast of international union news every Monday. The audiocast is presented by labour educator Marc Bélanger.

College for Working Families

The Princeton Review has set its next goal: to help create the largest online college ever. And it thinks it can do it in five years.

The company announced yesterday that it is entering into a joint venture with the National Labor College -- an accredited institution that offers blended-learning programs to 200 students, most of whom are adults -- to establish what would be called the College for Working Families. The college would offer courses tailored to the needs of union members and their families, beginning this fall.


Part of the role of the college is to bolster union membership. Unionized students pay less, but even non-unionized members can get a substantial discount if they agree to join Working America, an affiliate of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. that aims to form alliances between union and non-union employees. Working America membership is only $5, but students who go through the college are more likely to join a union after graduation if they haven’t already, Scheuerman says. In essence, the Labor College is drawing students from unions, and helping bring new members in as well, he says.

NLC History.

Boston Hyatt: We won’t stop fighting until we get them back.

"When they fired me and almost 100 others on Aug. 31, they gave me a few weeks pay and a trash bag to clear out my locker."

Bring Back the Hyatt 100.
Corporina Belis, Hyatt Regency Boston

"It makes me sad because I worked with them for 20 years and they threw me out the door. We're asking you to support us so we can get our jobs back."
-Thien Moore, Hyatt Regency Boston

"I worked for 21 years. They gave me a trash bag to clean out my locker. I am fighting for justice. I want everyone to know what happened so it doesn't happen again."
-Aracelly Arango, Hyatt Regency Boston

"It's a shame what happened with Hyatt. It all came down to the dollar. They didn't care about us."
-Lucine Williams, Hyatt Regency Boston.

"I feel really sad about what happened. We didn't deserve to be thrown out the door like trash. We deserved respect."
-Mayra Carmona, Hyatt Regency Boston


On August 31, Hyatt fired its longtime housekeeping staff at its three Boston-area hotels. Many of the fired housekeepers worked for their hotels for over 20 years. Many were required to train their replacements before being fired. Their replacements are being paid minimum wage.

We won’t stop fighting until we get them back.

Mitch Freedman Remembers the ALA SF Boycott of Marriott June 18, 2001.

Mitch Freedman was ALA President-2003-2004.


Beginning January 4, 2009 the ALA Social Responsibilities RoundTable debated weather to honor the 2010 Boycott of Hyatt Hotels during the MidWinter conference in Boston. See SRRT archives.
.


As part of the discussion Mitch Freedman wrote the SRRT discussants about the boycott in 2001. Mitch Freedman was ALA President-2003-2004.



Hi, All,

At least some of the details re SF Marriott that Al requests are relatively simple.

There was a boycott--not a strike--of the SF Marriott by Local 2 HERE (Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees), San Francisco.

The boycott had been endorsed by the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and a host of public officials as well as anyone remotely progressive in the Bay Area, if not the State of California.

Here the details are no longer quite as precise.

A number of us wanted ALA to join the boycott. As early as the prior Fall, there were pressures applied to ALA to pull all of its events out of the Marriott. There was a vote by the Executive Board (Midwinter or Spring before annual?) to continue with the Marriott.
The boycott was supported by numerous ALA members and all kinds of folks from SF, tourists, hotel staff, and people from the Bay Area.

See SRRT Resolution:

RESOLVED that SRRT calls for an immediate resolution by Marriott of all
outstanding issues and full recognition of the rights of all its workers
and calls upon ALA to make it clear that bad labor practices in any unit
of a chain will influence conference location decision choices with
respect to hotels in the whole chain.
Moved by Mark Rosenzweig
Seconded by Al Kagan
Passed Unanimously by Action Council II June 18, 2001
ALA 2001. "Resolutions passed at Annual." SRRT Newsletter, 136, 2.

Many people cancelled reservations at the Marriott and had to find other places to stay, no simple problem.

It was a wonderful action. The local had incredible energy and their attitude and spirit were exceptional. Pots and pans, drums, etc. were all used to let the public know something was happening there.

A personal note: a significant effort was made to get ALA to move it's Executive Board meetings to the SFPL. Susan Hildreth, director at the time, offered the range of facilities that ALA seemed to require. ALA rejected the offer because in its judgment what SFPL offered was not adequate in terms of facilities and access. It also was expressed that it was too late to make all of the logistical and other arrangements required for such a change.

fyi I did not attend the Inaugural Banquet at the SF Marriott at which I was to be inaugurated as President-Elect.
Patricia Glass Schuman was the Lippincott Award winner at the time of
the SF Marriott boycott. Michael Gorman was the recipient of the Melvil Dewey Medal.
Both of them preferred the picket line to attending the Awards ceremony and being handed their respective checks. Pat Schuman, Michael Gorman, and I all spoke that evening OUTSIDE the Marriott. We urged people to boycott the Inaugural Banquet. If memory serves me right, I believe Mark Rosenzweig (and one or two others) actually went into the hotel--I think, to the banquet--with protest signs and eventually left.

I urge any who wish to exercise your free speech and assembly rights to
do so. The use of the ALA name always has been a contentious issue--especially if it is used in regard to something embarrassing or in opposition to an Association action or policy.

If you'll forgive one more trip down memory lane, there was an ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia (don't remember the year, but it may have been the one at which Liz Futas or Marvin Scilken died... yes, they were two of the three librarians that died at each of three successive ALA midwinters in Philadelphia) that moved me to organize a protest.
At the time the efforts to put Mumia Abu Jamal to death-- he was convicted already--were quite intense. After having listened to repeated Mumia-related broadcasts on WBAI (Amy Goodman and others) and read and viewed related material, I felt that it would be inexcusable to go to Philly without doing something to stop the injustice.

To make this dragged out story shorter, a bunch of us stood outside the Sheraton (?), picketed, handed out leaflets, and posed for the innumerable photos taken by the Philadelphia police, who were very much on hand. (A local Quaker anti-capital punishment group said that things would go much more smoothly if we notified the cops in advance.)

It was a bitter cold day. ALA's administration said/did nothing whatsoever--one way or another--regarding the picket. The stakes were different and higher in SF. For one thing the hotel was the site of the picket but not the reason for it. Unlike the situation with the Marriott and Hyatt.

Running on like this, perhaps, is a function of old age &/or retirement, so I'll end and repeat what I said above. You and anyone else should feel absolutely free to exercise your rights of free speech and assembly at the Hyatt or anywhere else.

Warmest regards to you all.
mitch

Mitch Freedman's papers are available at the ALA archives.

(Incidentally, you can see additional photos of the boycott at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15374048@N06/sets/72157603171821385/.)

See article: ALA Breaks Attendance Records Despite Marriott Boycott.American Libraries 32 no7 68-82 Ag 2001.

=
On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 11:15 AM, Al Kagan wrote:
Let me just remind everyone that there is precedent for picketing an
ALA hotel. Mitch Freedman walked the picket line when he was becoming
ALA President, and refused to go to a VIP event inside that hotel. Many
events scheduled in that hotel were boycotted, and I think SRRT even
cancelled an event there. Someone with a better memory might provide
the details.

ALA AND THE San Francisco MARRIOT BOYCOTT- 2001

ON ALA AND THE MARRIOT BOYCOTT

WHEREAS, the American Library Association selected the San Francisco Marriott Hotel as its convention headquarters hotel for its annual conference held in San Francisco in June 2001; and

WHEREAS, the San Francisco Marriott Hotel had agreed it would not interfere with workers' right to unionize when it was given permission by the City to build on its land in 1980: and

WHEREAS, since 1996, when Local 2 was selected by a majority of Marriott employees to represent them, over 120 negotiating session have been held and still there is no labor agreement in place; and

WHEREAS, in September 2000, Local 2 called for a boycott of the San Francisco Marriott Hotel, which is supported by the Mayor, most of the Board of supervisors and other elected officials as well as many community and religious leaders; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that SRRT supports the cause of the restaurant workers of Local 2 and the organized boycotters of the San Francisco Marriott Hotel and that it decries ALA's indifference to the boycott in its choice of conference hotel and subsequent conference arrangements.

RESOLVED, that SRRT calls on the American Library Association to formally express its regret for having made the San Francisco Marriott the central conference hotel without taking heed of the well- publicized and widely-supported boycott of the Marriott Hotel organized by the San Francisco labor movement and other supporters.

RESOLVED, that SRRT calls on ALA to alter its policy to provide for re-evaluation of contracts in light of labor conflicts, strikes and boycotts which arise, and which may form the basis for cancellation of arrangements.

RESOLVED that SRRT urges ALA to alter its policy to exclude holding
conferences in non-union hotels (i.e.ones where the majority of workers are unorganized) and to preclude locating any future conferences in so-called "right-to-work" states where workers rights to collective bargaining are not recognized.

RESOLVED that SRRT calls for an immediate resolution by Marriott of all outstanding issues and full recognition of the rights of all its workers and calls upon ALA to make it clear that bad labor practices in any unit of a chain will influence conference location decision choices with respect to hotels in the whole chain.

Moved by Mark Rosenzweig
Seconded by Al Kagan
Passed Unanimously by Action Council II June 18, 2001
ALA 2001. "Resolutions passed at Annual." SRRT Newsletter, 136, 2.

See also post with summary by former ALA President, Mitch Freedman.

====
FYI, re 2001 Marriott Boycott. From Library Juice/ 4:23 - June 27, 2001

5. Andrea Grimes' report from the frontlines of the Marriott Boycott

23 June 2001

Dear Friends,

This is a report from the frontlines of the ALA Conference/Marriott Boycott.
Part of this report first appeared in lisnews.com. Please see that site for
protest button and sticker. This report was compiled by the Local 790
Librarians' Caucus Liaison, Andrea Grimes.

Friday, June 15: THE CONFERENCE BEGINS

6:00 Day One of Local 2's Siege: protest/picket line begins, at SF
Marriott Hotel. Local 2 has scheduled two all-day actions at the Marriott,
for Friday and Saturday, June 15-16, from 6:00am-10:00pm. ALL LIBRARY
WORKERS AND CONFERENCE ATTENDEES INVITED TO JOIN WITH LOCAL 2 IN PROTESTING
THE MARRIOTT AND ALA. (This is the fifth siege within six months.)

Here's the text of the message that went out earlier this week:

ALA/MARRIOTT PROTESTS: SPREAD THE WORD

All librarians, library workers, conference attendees, and
everyone else who supports Local 2 are invited to join San
Francisco Bay Area library workers in three days of protests at
the San Francisco Marriott. >These actions are scheduled for the
following days: SIEGE V: TWO ALL-DAY PROTESTS: Friday and Saturday,
June 15 & 16, 6:00am - 10:00pm

SPECIAL ACTION: ALA AWARDS RECEPTION/INAUGURAL BANQUET: Tuesday,
June 19, 4:30pm - 7:30pm>THE INAUGURAL BANQUET ACTION IS A VERY
SPECIAL PROTEST AGAINST THE ACTIONS OF ALA LEADERSHIP, WHO HAVE
IGNORED THE PLEAS OF MEMBERS AND MARRIOTT WORKERS TO MOVE ALA
EVENTS OUT OF THE MARRIOTT.

Don't let Marriott and ALA think it's just business as usual.
Let's stand up for the Marriott workers, and all workers, who
struggle for a better life. We can do it! Come and join us on
these days of protest.

For more information on the SF Marriott labor troubles, see Local
2's boycott website at www.sfmarriottboycott.org>

9:00 Caucus liaison receives forwarded letter from Mitch Freedman,
ALA President-Elect, in which he gives his full support of the boycott
against Marriott, and protests directed against Marriott and ALA.

Mitch Freedman writes:

"I am writing this message to those 4,300+ people that voted for
me, as well as all other ALA members. I will not be attending the
ALA Inaugural Banquet, at which I was scheduled to be inaugurated
as President-Elect, 2001-2002. I will not be attending
the 3rd Executive Board meeting, the one I should attend as ALA
President-Elect.

"Although I was going to attend the ALA Awards presentations so
that I could be there for the presentation of the Lippincott Award
to one of my dearest friends, Patricia Glass Schuman, I will
not. Ms. Schuman is honoring the boycott and will not attend the
Awards ceremony, as are the recipient of the Equality Award, and
its donor, Scarecrow Press, who also will not attend. I have
been told by others scheduled to be inaugurated or receive awards that
they will not attend those events.

"I chose not to attend all three of these events, plus other
meetings to which I was invited or would have liked to attend,
because they are all being held in the Marriott Hotel.

"I am supporting the Hotel Employees and Restaurant
Employees (HERE), Local 2, call for a boycott of the Marriott
Hotel. For the following reasons, I made this decision:

"1. I chose to support the boycott request made by the San
Francisco Public Library Commission (the host library for
the convention), the mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown,
and 9 of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors. This
extraordinary confluence of support by public officials of the labor
side in this kind of dispute is unprecedented in my memory..."

The full text of Mitch Freedman's letter may be read on
lisnews.com:


9:20-14:30(approximate time) Local 790 Caucus members begin
leafletting incoming librarians at Moscone Center(outside
Registration). Stickers, reading "LIBRARIANS SUPPORT HOTEL
WORKERS! BOYCOTT MARRIOTT" are given to librarians. During this
time, some caucus members join the picket line at the Marriott.
Overall reception from librarians is very supportive.

16:30 Caucus members leaflet at Moscone Registration area.

17:00 ALA Staff, assisted by Moscone Security, force Caucus
members off the Moscone Center entrance way(sidewalk outside
Registration), and onto the "Free Speech Island," the outer
sidewalk away from Registration(citing Private Property ordinance).
Protests by Caucus members to ALA staff that this is city
property, that the Mayor of San Francisco has called this
boycott, fall on deaf ears. ALA itself seems to be deaf to the
principles of free speech!! The second irony of the conference
(the first being this year's theme: LIBRARIES: CORNERSTONE OF
DEMOCRACY).

17:00-18:30 Caucus members continue to leaflet and pass out
boycott stickers to librarians registering for conference, this
time on "Free Speech Island."

18:35-19:35 Caucus members join the picket line, along with West
Virginia librarian, Yvonne Farley, this year's Intellectual
Freedom Award winner, and other librarians.

"Don't check in-Check out!"

"San Francisco should beware:
Marriott Hotel is unfair!"

"Marriott Hotel-look around
San Francisco's a union town!"

(Local 2 chants)

22:00 Local 2 picket line stops for the evening. To be resumed
Saturday, June 16, at 6:00AM.

Later that evening: Local 790 Librarians' Caucus members receive
word that some ALA leaders have visited the editorial offices of
the San Francisco Chronicle. As yet, no newspaper reports from
that paper about the labor unrest at the Marriott.

That same evening, caucus members receive word that ALA conference
staff attempted to prevent Mayor Brown from speaking out in support
of the hotel workers. The Mayor is scheduled to speak at the Opening
General Session Saturday (Moscone Center).

Saturday, June 16

6:00-22:00 Day Two of Local 2's siege continues, at the Marriott.

This email message went out to library workers, conference
attendees, and supporters of the hotel workers:

PLEASE JOIN US IN ANOTHER DAY OF PROTEST. MANY OF YOUR COLLEAGUES
WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE PICKET LINE AFTER WORK TONIGHT, SO YOU'LL
HAVE THE SOLIDARITY OF LIBRARY WORKERS AND HOTEL WORKERS
PROTESTING TOGHETHER.

For more information on the Marriott struggle see Library Juice
at In particular, vol 4, 6/6 & 6/14.

P.S. JOIN LIBRARIANS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, ALONG WITH LOCAL
2 HOTEL WORKERS, FOR A VERY SPECIAL ACTION, JUST FOR ALA
LEADERSHIP, WHEN WE PROTEST ALA'S DISREGARD FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS,
ON THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING OF TUESDAY, JUNE 19. THIS IS THE
EVENING OF THE ALA AWARDS RECEPTION AND INAUGURAL BANQUET.
THE PROTEST IS SCHEDULED FOR 4:30PM -7:30PM, AT THE MARRIOTT.

THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO TELL ALL THOSE BIGSHOTS AT ALA THAT THEY
MADE A SERIOUS MISTAKE IN HEADQUARTERING AT THE MARRIOTT. THEIR
'LET THEM EAT CAKE' ATTITUDE IS ALREADY HAVING SERIOUS
REPERCUSSIONS!

ALA conference continues.

All through the day and into the evening: librarians from San
Francisco Bay Area and all over the U.S. join the picket line.

"Stop the threats, stop the lies
It's our right to organize!"

"Talking Union is our right!
We are here and ready to fight!"

"Marriott Hotel, rolling in the dough
Union bashing's got to go!"

(Local 2 chants)

No newspaper reports on the labor situation.

Sunday, June 17

ALA conference continues.

Protest flyer is made; goes out on email, calling on all library
workers and supporters of hotel workers to attend rally Tuesday,
June 19, 4:30 - 7:30PM

WE NEED YOU AT THE RALLY!
TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 4:30PM - 7:30PM

Please join President-Elect Mitch Freedman and library luminaries
for a very special action, at the San Francisco Marriott. This
protest, organized by librarians with the support of Local 2, is
in support of the hotel workers. We stand by Local 2 hotel
workers until they win a contract that guarantees fair working
conditions, family friendly benefits, and a real voice on the
job!

Despite pleas from ALA leaders, members, and Local 2, ALA refused
to move many events and meetings out of the Marriott. ALA refused
to accept free space at the San Francisco Public Library for the
last Executive Board meeting; and refused the President-Elect's
offer of an alternative (and less expensive) venue for the
Inaugural Banquet.

P R O T E S T A G A I N S T A L A A N D M A R R I O T T

WHAT: ALA Awards Reception/Inaugural Banquet
WHERE: San Francisco Marriott, 4th Street, (between Market and
Mission Streets)
WHEN: Tuesday, June 19, 4:30pm - 7:30pm

Here's a partial list of librarians, library groups, community
and religious leaders, who support the boycott against the SF Marriott:

Mitch Freedman, ALA President-Elect
Local 790 Librarians' Caucus
Progressive Librarians Guild
Elaine Harger, ALA Council, SRRT Action Council*
Virginia B. Moore, Martin Luther King Task Force, SRRT*
Sanford Berman
Social Responsibilities Round Table, Action Council Members:
Fred Stoss*, Al Kagan (SRRT Rept to ALA Council)*, Nel Ward*
Mark C. Rosenzweig, ALA Councilor-at-Large; SRRT Action Council*
University Council, American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT)
Susan Hildreth, City Librarian, San Francisco Public Library
San Francisco Public Library Commission
Yvonne Farley, Librarian, Kanawha County Library, Virginia
(winner, ALA Intellectual Freedom Award)
Patricia Glass-Schuman (winner, Lippincott Award)
Michael Gorman, Director, Fresno State University Library
(winner, Highsmith Award)
Reverend Jesse Jackson, President, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
Coretta Scott King, The King Center
Honorable Willie L. Brown, Mayor of San Francisco
Honorable Susan Leal, SF City Treasurer
Nine of eleven San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Honorable Jerry Brown, Mayor of Oakland
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Member, US Congress
Honorable Barbara Lee, Member, US Congress
Honorable John Burton, President Pro-Temporare of CA State Senate
Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder, United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO
Arturo Rodriguez, United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO
Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, CA Labor Federation
Reverend Cecil Williams, Glide United Methodist Chruch, SF
Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer, SF Labor Council
Josie Mooney, Executive Director, SEIU Local 790; President SF Labor Council
Shirley Breyer Black, Consultant, SEIU Local 790
Father Bill O'Donnell, St. Joseph the Worker Church
Father Peter Sammon, St. Theresa's Catholic Church
Susan Sachen, Western Regional Director, AFL-CIO Organizing Institute
A. Philip Randolph Institute
Senior Action Network
Northern CA Coalition for Immigrant Rights
SF Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Harvey Milk Democratic Club
Chinese Progressive Association
Nihomachi Legal Outreach
Labor Project for Working Families
Instituto Familia de la Raza

*Affiliation listed for identification purposes only and not for
organizational endorsement purposes.

18:30 Nicholson Baker lecture at the Weston St. Francis. Mr.
Baker is introduced by Progressive Librarians' Guild member,
Melissa Riley, and President-Elect Mitch Freedman. In a side note
to audience, Mitch Freedman reiterates his support of the hotel
workers, and explains why he is unable to attend ALA Awards
Reception /Inauguration Banquet and last Executive Board meeting.
He also tells audience that serious attempts were made by the
President-Elect and SFPL City Librarian, Susan Hildreth to help
ALA move these events out of the Marriott. ALA has never fully
explained its reasoning for refusing these requests. The
Inauguration was offered a less expensive venue, and the
Executive Board was offered free space at the San Francisco
Public Library.

No newspaper reports on the labor situation.

Monday, June 18

ALA conference continues.

Local 790 Librarians' Caucus are alerted to ALA cheet sheet,
which was put together for leadership. This cheet sheet covers a
number of issues, where talking points for reporters' questions
are outlined. Two talking points are of particular interest: ALA
administration attempts to discredit Nicholson Baker; the other
talking point tries to reduce the Marriott labor troubles to a
minor annoyance, not worthy of serious attention.

No newspaper reports on the labor situation.

Tuesday, June 19

ALA conference continues.

9:00-10:00 ALA President Nancy Kranich appears as guest of
Michael Krasny on his radio show, Forum. KQED 88.5 FM. First
caller of the morning expresses dismay at ALA's use of Marriott
as conference headquarters. Kranich says "we're deeply concerned,
but we've had the contract since 1997, and it would have been too
expensive to move elsewhere." On Nicholson Baker (I'm
paraphrasing, but this the essence): "The technology is different
than fifty years ago...Librarians have always been interested
in access, so give them a break....Anybody knows that if you
take a newspaper to the beach it will fall apart." Yawn.

16:00 Special protest organized by librarians and Local 2 begins
at Marriott's front door. Close to one hundred protestors
chanting, shouting, banging drums, lots of whistles, waving
signs: "NO CONTRACT NO PEACE;" "LIBRARIANS SUPPORT HOTEL
WORKERS/BOYCOTT MARRIOTT." SF Police presence for the first time
at conference.

17:45 (approximate time) Speeches of support for the hotel
workers, by Michael Gorman, Patricia Glass Schuman, Doris Seale,
and Mitch Freedman.

18:00 Protest continues.

"Ain't no power like the power of the people and
the power of the people won't stop, SAY WHAT!"

"Escucha, Escucha
Estamos en la lucha!"

"Union-YES!
Marriott-NO!
Union bashing's got to go!

"Marriott Hotel-You're no good!
Sign a contract like you should!"

(Local 2 chants)

18:15 (approximate time) Seven protestors enter the Marriott
carrying protest signs (mostly hidden from view of Marriott
management). After being directed to the wrong floor, the
protestors find their way to the sub-basement, where they are
helpfully directed by a party-goer to the banquet hall. On the
way, one of Marriott's managers spots protesters and follows them
to the salon where Marie Antoinette's friends are congratulating
themselves and whooping it up. Now confronted by seven mute
protestors holding signs (LIBRARIANS SUPPORT HOTEL WORKERS!
BOYCOTT MARRIOTT!) in full view of these ALA "leaders,"
Marriott's managers hit the panic button, and call on Local 2's
lead organizer to reason with protestors, to get them out of the
building. Protestors refuse to leave, and (now six) continue to
stand outside of salon. Protestors silently spoil what would have
been a perfect evening, being a reminder to ALA "leaders" of ALA's
shame in contracting with the Marriott. Protestors have made
Marriott management so nervous, that a server tells them ALL of
Marriott management is down there keeping an eye on things,
guarding the party people, and generally scurrying back and
forth, using their cell phones, constantly in touch with guards
and other managers. Marriott management shuts doors to party (it
must be getting a bit hot inside; some revelers step outside the
room...for air?). Protestors continue to stand outside salon.
The same server tells protesters that party people will leave
salon to go into the banquet salon around the corner and down the
hall. ALA VIPs file out of salon (Awards Reception), met by
sign-holding protestors: party people look embarrassed and
uncomfortable, sometimes blank-faced, as they are escorted by
Marriott security into the next banquet salon. Protestors change
locations as party people go in and out of a series of doors, to
final banquet salon. Marriott management lock party people into
this last salon...for protection? Hundreds of people have now
been locked away from six protestors! Protestors leave, but not
before they flash protest signs to ALA staff, while riding up
escalator to the lobby, and out to a boisterous crowd of
librarians and Local 2 supporters, all of whom are chanting loudly.

Among the celebrated partygoers inside the Marriott:

Nancy Kranich, President of ALA, 2000-2001
John W. Berry, 2001-2002
William Gordon, Executive Director, ALA
Barbara Ford, Past President, ALA
Karen Schneider, Director of Technology, Shenendehowa PL, Clifton Park, NY
Kenneth Dowlin, Former Director, San Francisco Public Library
Blanche Wools, Dean, San Jose University Library School and Don Fadden,
formerly Director, Friends of the Scranton Public Library

No newspaper reports on the labor situation.

Wednesday, June 20

No newspaper reports on the labor situation.

Thursday, June 21

No newspaper reports on the labor situation.

Friday, June 22

This article appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Riding out
the lean times: tourism industry brainstorms on ways to fill San
Francisco's suddenly quiet hotels."

"San Francisco has thousands of empty hotel rooms..."

See the story online at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/06/22/BU175169.DTL

Otherwise, no newspaper reports on the labor situation.

For more documents of the Marriott struggle see these sites:

Library Juice
LISNEWS

Our grateful appreciation for the help of members of the
Progressive Librarians Guild; Social Responsibilities Round
Table; the real ALA leaders; Local 790 members; and librarians
from everywhere, who worked in solidarity with the Marriott Hotel
workers of Local 2. Special thanks to the following people:

Mark Rosenzweig
Elaine Harger
Fred Stoss
Sandy Berman
Judy Birket
Al Kagan
Virginia B. Moore
Nel Ward
Mitch Freedman
Rory Litwin
Jenna Freedman
Patricia Glass Schuman
Michael Gorman
Doris Seale
Susan Hildreth
Yvonne Farley
Cathy Bremer
Ruth Maginnis
Melissa Riley
Shannon Shepard
Donna Mandel
Sam Trosow
Roberta Frye
Tom Carey
Greg Kelly
Ellen Shatter
Jason Honig
Pam Osborn
Monika Antonelli
Herb and Mary Biblow
Zoia Horn
Susan Hayden
Rhonda Neugebauer
Charles Willett
Chuck D'Adamo
Rachelle Resnick
Adelaide Chen
Dave Glaser

ALA-YOU STARTED A FIRE YOU CAN'T PUT OUT!

Cambridge Mayor on Hyatt Hotel Boycott

When the housekeepers at the three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area were asked to train some new workers, they said they were told the trainees would be filling in during vacations.

On Aug. 31, staffers learned the full story: None of them would be making the beds and cleaning the showers any longer. All of them were losing their jobs. The trainees, it turns out, were employees of a Georgia company, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who were replacing them that day.
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The American Library Association Midwinter will be in Boston. The Hyatt is a conference hotel. The Progressive Librarians Guild has called for a boycott of the Hyatt

BOYCOTT HYATT PETITION IS here.



12.23.2009.
Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons sent a letter to the president of Hyatt Hotels Corp. yesterday, reiterating her dismay over the dismissal of 98 local housekeepers and stating that the City of Cambridge would no longer do business at the Hyatt unless the workers were reinstated.

"This is the season for charity and neighborliness," she wrote to president Mark Hoplamazian, "and it is not too late for the Hyatt Corporation to do the right thing."

The three local Hyatts - in Cambridge, downtown Boston, and at Logan International Airport
- fired their entire housekeeping staffs Aug. 31 and immediately replaced them with outsourced workers who made half as much money.

Numerous local organizations have boycotted and picketed the hotels, including groups of rabbis, politicians, lawyers, and school children. Hyatt responded to the outcry by offering to hire back the housekeepers through its outsourcing firm, United Service Cos., with their old wage rate guaranteed until the end of next year and health care benefits extended through March. Only six of the workers have accepted the offer.

Hyatt responded to the mayor's letter in a statement: "A boycott will only further threaten the jobs of our associates working in Hyatt properties during the worst economic period in decades."

The Cambridge and Boston city councils have both passed resolutions condemning Hyatt's actions, and Governor Deval Patrick has threatened a state boycott if the housekeepers aren't rehired.

Young people need good jobs now

Young People Need Good Jobs Now

By Liz Shuler and Donna DeWitt
The Sun News
Myrtle Beach, SC
December 18, 2009



As the new year rolls in, a four-letter word is on
everyone's lips: jobs.

With the unemployment rate at red-alert levels, the
White House held a jobs summit, the president gave a
major address and Congress is preparing legislation to
create jobs. But not many are looking at the particular
problems facing young workers. Not only have they been
hurt disproportionately by the economic crisis, they
could very well be the first generation in recent
history to be worse off than their parents. Joblessness
among young workers is even higher than the national
average. They need jobs -- good jobs -- and they need
them now.

--read more

Seamus Scanlon-Center for Worker Education

"Wonder of wonders, we got Seamus. He started that library in an empty room, all by
himself."

Seamus Scanlon-Center for Worker Education.

The Center was begun 27 years ago by the Teamsters Union and City College to give working adults the opportunity to earn a college degree through night classes. Today, the school still offers only night classes to its students, 80 percent of whom are black and Hispanic women in their early thirties.


I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN 2009 AWARD--nomination letters. (pdf).

The Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies was established at Queens College over twenty years ago with the support of the late Chancellor Joseph S. Murphy. The Institute includes The Center for Worker Education and The Center for Community, Labor and Policy Studies.

The Center for Worker Education provides undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to working adults and union members who want to improve their skills, upgrade their qualifications, advance their careers, and deepen their understanding of the world. Recently, the Institute has been elevating these activities to a University-wide level and providing unions and their members with a single entry point into CUNY's 1,200 academic programs, 19 campuses, and diverse educational resources. Partnerships with the CUNY's School of Professional Studies, City Tech, and the College of Staten Island have enabled the Institute to create new programs that meet the academic and career advancement needs of working adults and union members.


The Center for Labor, Community and Policy Studies conducts strategic research, organizes public forums and conferences, publishes a national journal, and offers an array of leadership development programs. It sponsors local forums and national conferences, publishes a nationally acclaimed journal, The New Labor Forum and a widely used anthology on the labor movement (A New Labor Movement for the New Century, Gregory Mantsios, Ed., New York: Garland Publishers, 1998).