A small group of Hilton Hotel employees who say they represent a much larger contingent demonstrated against the labor union that the employees say has caused more trouble than good. The union, Unite Here Local 11, says that they’re just trying to protect the employees from unfair labor practices at the hotel.
“We don’t want the union because we don’t want to pay $50 or $40 a month,” said room attendant Orfelina Olmos, who has worked at the Hilton for 16 years. Olmos says the union is intentionally driving business away from the Hilton, which ultimately affects her paycheck.
“If the Hilton doesn’t have guests, I don’t have work,” she said, citing an unusually low number of guests over the Thanksgiving weekend. She says that the union has taken to making loud banging noises down the halls as early as 6:00am in order to disturb guests and drive business away from the Hilton.
Unite Here Local 11 says that the hotel has unfairly treated its employees with low wages and bad healthcare plans, and the union is sticking up for the employees. Elizabeth Martinez is a Hilton employee and a union member, who says she was interrogated by management for more than an hour about comments she made about the hotel’s labor practices.
“They really pressured me about everything I said at the universites,” Martinez said in a phone interview. In late October, she spent three days speaking at Brown and Harvard Universities about her experiences, upset with the high cost of the company’s health insurance plan and poor worker’s compensation. When she returned, the hotel’s general manager and director of human resources questioned her about everything she had said.
“I was afraid they would fire me. I felt very inferior.”
But employees like Olmos feel just the opposite about hotel management.
“We have a good company here, and no reason for a union,” she says. Olmos and the other demonstrators described an easygoing relationship with their superiors that is disrupted by the presence of the union.
“We have insurance, we have a 401k, we have full benefits,” Olmos said. “Why do we need unions? Why? Only to pay $50 a month? $600 a year? I have children and grandchildren – I need my $50.”
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
