GETTING A BETTER RETURN ON THE
COMMUNITY'S INVESTMENT
In New Orleans the hotel business is booming. Average room rates
here are the fifth highest in the country, behind only New York, San
Fransisco, Boston and Honolulu. New Orleans is now in the top rank of
convention and tourism destinations. A dozen new hotels have been built
in the last three years. Many more are under construction or proposed.
But hotel and hospitality workers are not sharing in the prosperity.
Wage rates in New Orleans are among the lowest in the nation. The average
hotel housekeeper for instance, makes less than $6 an hour- well below
the poverty level. Workers of color are often relegated to the lowest
paid positions with little chance of advancement.
Workers choices are not respected. Whenever New Orleans hospitality
workers try to organize to improve their conditions, they meet with
fierce employer opposition. The National Labor Relations Board found
that six food service workers had their hours reduced on account of
their support for the union. At the Superdome, a re-run election has
been ordered because of employer misconduct. At the St. Louis and Intercontinental
hotels, workers have been fired for speaking out for the union. At the
Omni Royal Orleans and Wyndham Riverfront hotels, workers endured countless
"captive audience" meetings in their unsuccessful attempts to form a
union.
Taxpayers are subsidizing a rich industry. Over the past decade,
million of dollars in taxpayer-inanced subsidies-property tax abatements,
guaranteed loans, enterprise zone incentives and more-have gone into
building the convention/tourism infrastructure. In the past, there have
been few strigs attached to these public subsidy programs.
There are a number of projects currently underway of in the works
in which our city government has a direct financial stake. These include
the World Trade Center hotel conversion on city owned land; the conversion
of a department store to a Ritz-Carlton hotel with the help of a HUD
loan guarantee; the Piazza D'Italia hotel project on city owned land
and a hotel proposed for the airport.
How can the community ensure that the jobs created with our tax
dollars are good jobs? The Hospitality, Hotels and Restaraunts Organizing
Council, AFL-CIO(HOTROC) supports clear and enforceable provisions for
Open Access and Labor Peace in publicly subsidized projects.
Open Acess means fair and equal treatment in hiring, training, promotions,
vendor contracting and ownership for women and minorities. Labor Peace
would require the employer to leave the choice to form a union up to
workers themselves and to honor their majority decision.
Addional Information here>>
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