The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health
(National COSH) has joined a global boycott of Hyatt hotels that began on July
23, 2012 and has since been supported by over 5,000 individuals and
organizations. The boycott is in response to widespread evidence of harmful
working conditions for hotel housekeepers, including reports of extensive
ergonomic and musculoskeletal injuries.
OSHA has identified ergonomic risk factors relating to housekeeping
tasks and sent a letter to the Hyatt Corporation in 2012 urging the chain to
reduce ergonomic stress on workers and reminding Hyatt that according to law,
all injuries and illnesses of contracted employees under direct supervision of
Hyatt must be reported.
OSHA’s recommendations to improve working conditions for
Hyatt housekeepers include:
- Provide housekeepers with long-handled or adjustable-length tools for mopping, dusting and other cleaning.
- Modify the bed-making process, such as to use fitted sheets to minimize the moving of mattresses, which currently must be lifted four times each in order to make beds.
- Provide motorized carts and lighter-weight vacuums.
- Minimize travel distance between rooms and the laundry room.
Other unfair practices by Hyatt cited by protesters include
expectations for housekeepers to clean rooms in only 15 minutes, firing of
housekeeping staff to replace them with temporary minimum wage workers and the
firing of female workers who objected to degrading pictures of them being
posted on work bulletin boards.
Find more information about the boycott here.