(audio) “Yeah, it’s very bad, Chris. We've got 97% of our members out of work. About half of our hotels are mothballing. They're closing entirely. The ones that are operating are operating, in the low single digits around, three to 5% occupancy.”
That’s John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 25, which represents more than 7,000 DC-area hotel workers. I checked in with John yesterday to see how his union and its members are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. (audio) “We are fully operational even though our office is closed, Chris, we are in the process of contacting all of our members directly, by phone. we have a very robust text communications backbone in place. almost 90% of our members are capable of receiving text messages from us. We have our website up. We're in the process this week of launching an email newsletter. So we're keeping people posted. And I would, I would encourage those of you who listen to the show, to recognize that, we are all isolated now. And so anything that we can do to, do what we as humans need, which is create a sense of community, all of those little things will be important. So, call a friend, call a member, Keep in touch. Usually mail, text message somebody. we're, we're trying to do that as much as we can with our membership. So that they know what's going on and that, they keep us informed and we them about, what they need to do to stay safe and to be able to access some of these programs.” John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 25, which represents more than DC-area 7,000 hotel workers. We’ll have more of my conversation with John on this week’s edition of Your Rights At Work, Thursday at 1pm, here on WPFW. In today’s labor history, on this date in 1894, the first “Poor People’s March” on Washington took place, in which jobless workers demanded creation of a public works program. Led by populist Jacob Coxey, the 500 to 1,000 unemployed protesters became known as “Coxey’s Army”. Today’s labor quote is from “The Triangle Fire,” by John O’Connor. 146 workers were killed in a fire at New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on this date in 1911, a disaster that would launch a national movement for safer working conditions. (audio) Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus, which stands up for union members and their families. At unionplus.org you’ll find useful links to coronavirus resources from the AFL-CIO, as well as Union Plus Hardship Help Benefits. Check it out at unionplus.org
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Union City Radio is proud to be supported by UnionPlus, which has been working hard for union families since 1986.
Union City Radio is part of The Labor Radio/Podcast Network
Listen now...UC Radio airs weekdays at 7:15a on WPFW 89.3 FM; subscribe to the podcast here. |