NEW YORK—On Tuesday, November 9, Hyatt hotel housekeepers in eight cities across the United States filed injury complaints with OSHA, reporting repetitive motion and other kinds of injuries sustained on the job. The multi-city filing at 12 Hyatt properties that employ more than 3,500 workers is the first of its kind in the private sector. A major peer-reviewed study of hotel worker injuries at 50 U.S. hotels operated by the five largest U.S. hotel companies was published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine (AJIM) a year ago. (See study.) By company, housekeepers working at Hyatt hotels in the AJIM study had the highest injury rate of those hotels studied. (See Hyatt’s response at end of article.)
The 12 Hyatt hotels included in the complaint (union and non-union) include: Hyatt Regency Indianapolis; Hyatt Regency Chicago; Park Hyatt Chicago; Hyatt Regency McCormick Place; Hyatt Regency O’Hare; Grand Hyatt San Antonio; Hyatt Regency Long Beach; Hyatt Regency Century Plaza; Andaz West Hollywood; Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf; Hyatt Regency Santa Clara; and Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa.
According to UNITE HERE, the hazards associated with hotel work and service sector jobs more broadly have been largely invisible and unregulated. Serious injuries can happen slowly over time, through the repetition of certain tasks. Nevertheless, the long-term impact can result in debilitating injuries that in some instances require surgical intervention, physical therapy, or lead to permanent disability, like the loss of the full use of one’s arm.
Hyatt Workers Had Highest Injury Rate
The AJIM study found the highest injury rates among hotel workers to be in housekeeping. The study also indicated significant differences in hotel injuries by race and gender, showing that women hotel workers were 50 percent more likely to be injured than men, and Hispanic women had almost double the risk of injury of their white female counterparts. The variation in injury rates across the major companies suggests room for remedies. Housekeepers working at Hyatt hotels in the AJIM study had the highest injury rate of those hotels studied, with a risk of injury almost twice that of the company with the lowest rate.
According to UNITE HERE, at some Hyatt properties, room attendants are required to clean as many as 30 rooms a day, nearly double what is commonly considered standard in the industry. Speeding up work by raising the room quota or adding room amenities can strain the body and lead to more accidents.
“Cleaning 25 to 30 rooms a day and making beds ‘hospital style’ demands working fast and lifting heavy mattresses,” says Maria Carmen Dominguez, who worked at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio as a room attendant before getting a broken tendon and permanently injuring her shoulder. “After surgery and months of physical therapy, I am still in pain anytime I lift my arm, even just to get dressed or brush my daughter’s hair.”
Dominguez also alleges that workers are discouraged from reporting injuries for fear of punishment, and that management has created a monetary disincentive for reporting injuries called “Safety Bingo,” with a lottery prize for housekeepers that grows every day that no injury is reported.
Remedy Recommendations
The complaints recommend to OSHA a number of remedies to reduce the health risks associated with housekeeping work. These recommendations include: fitted sheets to reduce the number of times that women must lift 100-plus pound mattresses to tuck sheets; long-handled mops and dusters, so workers do not have to get down on their hands and knees to clean the floors or climb bathtubs to reach high surfaces; and reasonable room quotas, so women no longer have to rush to finish rooms, risking slips and falls.
“There are common sense changes like fitted sheets, mops, or caps on daily room quotas that can make the difference between healthy bodies and hurt housekeepers,” says occupational health expert Gary Orr. “It is critical that we explore ways of making hotel work safe to reduce the high rates of injury that we see among housekeepers. Corporate-wide solutions are not only needed but are the most effective and less costly as they can be applied to multiple worksites.”
“We have much to do in the realm of worker safety across the board—eight to 12 million workers suffer work-related injuries on an annual basis,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3). “These hard-working men and women are at risk due to overwork and other factors—factors that are readily preventable. We must do more to protect all our workers, and I am proud to stand with UNITE HERE today and say to Hyatt and other employers across the country that hotel workers will no longer tolerate being overworked and exploited at risk to their health.”
Hyatt Hotels Corporation Response
Statement by Robb Webb, chief human resources officer, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, November 9, 2010:
“Unite Here is making false charges about our work environment in hotels where we are currently trying to negotiate new union contracts for Hyatt associates and in markets where the Union’s main goal is to increase its membership. Rather than focusing energy on achieving fair contracts for our associates in a timely manner, Unite Here leadership has elected to engage in an aggressive public misinformation campaign against Hyatt in order to pressure us into ‘card-check neutrality’, a union-organizing tactic that increases union members—and increases dues paid to the union—regardless of whether our associates at non-union hotels want to be represented by a union.
“Hyatt cares deeply about the health and safety of its associates. We are proud of our work environment, which we constantly strive to improve through training, worker feedback, employee recognition programs, room design, and other initiatives. Our OSHA data for 2008 to 2009 clearly show that both the frequency and severity of injuries have been reduced across all locations in North America for housekeepers and other associates.
“The study cited and funded by Unite Here was commissioned for the purpose of creating misinformation about the work experience at Hyatt hotels. We take any report of employee injury seriously and cooperate with OSHA on an ongoing basis to fully investigate claims.
“Today’s actions are the latest in Unite Here’s year-long campaign against Hyatt that has included demonstrations, boycotts and strikes organized with the hope of chasing away business from our hotels, an approach which is hardly in the best interest of our associates, its members. Hyatt is committed to providing excellent working conditions at all of our hotels. Our associates work hard and have the tools, resources and training they need to do a great job. It’s time for union leadership to make the negotiation of these expired contracts their number one priority, rather than perpetuating false claims about Hyatt’s excellent work environment. As we have for many months, we continue to welcome Unite Here to the negotiating table, which is the appropriate place to make real progress about issues important to our associates.”
Go to UNITE HERE and Hyatt.
