This letter appeared earlier in the week in the San Francisco Chronicle. It was written on behalf of hotel workers in San Francisco, but applies equally to the Hyatt 100 of Boston:

From the Chicago Tribune...

"Hyatt hasn't just insulted their workers, they've insulted the Torah, say more than 200 rabbis and cantors across the country who've signed a petition calling on the Chicago-based hotel chain to rehire 98 Boston housekeepers who were fired and replaced with cheaper, outsourced labor in August."

link: Rabbi delegation petitions Hyatt to rehire Boston housekeepers - chicagotribune.com

From the Boston Globe. Thanks to Union Librarian for sending this link.

"PASSAGES FROM Deuteronomy (“You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer’’) are about to rain down on executives of the Hyatt Hotels Corp., who stubbornly refuse to rehire 98 housekeepers fired in August."

link: No comfort at the Hyatt - The Boston Globe

"In order for a boycott to be effective, the Hyatt must know that you choose to avoid it because of how they have treated their workers."

link: MIT’s Obligation to the Hyatt’s Workers - The Tech

October 14, 2009

Progressive Librarians Guild opposes the actions of the Hyatt
Company

Be it hereby resolved that the Progressive Librarians Guild
opposes the actions of the Hyatt Company for its mass firing of
housekeepers in Boston and Cambridge. We also oppose the
actions of the Hyatt Company for having regular employees train
temporary employees to cover for regular employees' vacations,
then use those newly trained temporary employees to
permanently replace the regular employees.

We urge all librarians to avoid using Hyatt facilities during the
2010 Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association.


Approved by the Progressive Librarians Guild. Coordinating
Committee. October 14, 2009.


http://libr.org/plg/boycotthyatt.php

Edit30 has a two-part analysis of how Hyatt has shot its brand in the foot, and what Hyatt's communications consultants might try next. However, in this case the simplest recommendation is the best: Hyatt should apologize and rehire those housekeepers.

Part 1 - Hyatt PR gaffe goes viral, global

Part 2 - Hyatt: Managing the Boston aftermath


From the article (pt 2):

"Then, of course, there is the issue of addressing employees’ concerns and bolstering morale. The “they’re just employees” attitude won’t cut it, especially now. This is a serious area in which Hyatt has previously fallen short, in Boston as well as elsewhere."

Nancy Reardon at the Patriot Ledger reports that the South Shore Democratic Caucus (representing the Democratic committees of 8 South Shore towns) unanimously approved a resolution in support of a Hyatt boycott. Towns represented are: Weymouth, Duxbury, Hingham, Cohasset, Hull, Scituate, Marshfield and Norwell. Source article.

Hyatt has filed its IPO, visible online here through the SEC. It will take awhile to go through the whole thing. As one initial note, here's what Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian would get if fired. For him, financial security is promised in advance, signed into a legal document, and far more than he will ever need to survive. Compare this to the housekeepers who are fighting just to be reinstated at a living wage. Yesterday's rally downtown was a good start, and it was awesome to see the signs people had put up in windows opposite the Hyatt building. We need to keep the pressure on. Please add your name if you haven't already.