About 50 housekeepers and union supporters staged a demonstration Thursday morning at the Irvine Embassy Suites hotel in support of a state Assembly bill that – if passed – would require hotels to use fitted sheets and provide mops to housekeepers.
Unite Here Local 11, which has about 2,100 members that work at Disney-owned Paradise Pier Hotel, Grand California Hotel & Spa and Disneyland Hotel, sponsored the demonstration.
The union is among the hotel workers unions that support approval of the bill, SB 432. The bill was approved by the Assembly’s Labor & Employment Committee in June and is on the docket for the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Workers inside the Embassy Suites hung banners stating support for the bill and other pro-union messages from the railings inside the atrium of the hotel.
A small group of demonstrators was met by James Garcia, the hotel’s general manager, who thanked the group for the their thoughts and asked the group to leave. Garcia declined to comment further.
Outside the hotel, workers held a brief rally.
Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown has said previously housekeepers at its properties are given a “bed wedge” to lift mattresses.
Brown said the triangular-shaped device is inserted between the mattress and box spring to elevate the mattress and allow workers to change sheets.
“The safety of our cast is always our top priority,” she said in a prepared statement in June. “And we have provided our housekeepers various tools, including a bed wedge, that allows them to perform their work in an ergonomically correct way.”
The union and Disney are currently at odds regarding a new contract. The union has been negotiating with Disney for more than three years.
Among those supporting the hotel workers was Julian Fontaine, who works at the Disneyland Hotel. Fontaine said he hoped that by supporting other workers, pressure would be put on Disney to settle the dispute.
“This should have been done in six months,” Fontaine said. “Not even Congress takes that long.”
Disney has implemented conditions of its contract offer that has neither been accepted nor rejected by the union. Earlier this month, workers recently received pay increases – as well as housekeepers receiving concessions on the number of rooms they are required to clean on a daily basis.
Follow the Register’s coverage of the Disney union issue HERE.
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Hotel union stages demonstration in Irvine is a post from: Around Disney
