UNITE HERE Local 25: Hotel Workers’ Union Calls for Boycott of Grand Hyatt Washington

Workers will picket the hotel with a giant inflatable rat every morning at 7AM beginning Monday, August 5^th

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UNITE HERE Local 25, the hospitality workers union, has called for a boycott of the Grand Hyatt Washington. Workers will picket the hotel daily beginning Monday, August 5^th accompanied by a giant inflatable rat.

UNITE HERE Local 25 organizers have been meeting with workers at the Grand Hyatt, and earlier this month, the Union filed an unfair labor practice charge alleging that Grand Hyatt management illegally surveilled and intimidated workers as they were meeting with organizers. UNITE HERE Local 25 has also filed a wage theft complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, alleging that Grand Hyatt subcontractor J&B Cleaning is paying below minimum wage for cleaning work done at the Grand Hyatt. The Union picketed the hotel on Tuesday, July 23.

“We are calling on guests to not sleep, eat, or meet at the Grand Hyatt,” said Paul Schwalb, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 25.

The Grand Hyatt Washington is one of the largest non-union hotels in Washington, D.C., and hosts a large number of federal government events, including the Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, U.S. Army, Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Other non-union Hyatt hotels in the D.C.-area are also used regularly by the federal government, like the Hyatt Regency Bethesda, which is frequently used for conferences by NIH and other federal health agencies.

In addition to the Grand Hyatt, multiple hotels operated by Hyatt in the D.C. metro area are involved in labor disputes with Local 25 over their alleged violations of federal labor law and union-busting campaign. After over 70% of Hyatt Regency Crystal City housekeepers signed union authorization cards, workers filed for a union election on Friday, July 12th. Hyatt Crystal City workers are organizing for respect on the job, higher pay and benefits, and fair workloads. The overwhelming majority of them are immigrants. Shortly after the workers filed for election, Hyatt management commenced an anti-union campaign inside the hotel.

As the worker organizing spreads from the Hyatt Crystal City and the Grand Hyatt Washington and workers begin to organize at the Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Tysons, Hyatt Regency Reston, Hyatt Regency Dulles, Hyatt Centric Arlington and Hyatt Regency Bethesda, federal employees may be forced to choose whether to cross picket lines late in a tense political cycle.

Hyatt Hotels and Resorts is largely owned by the prominent Democratic Party Pritzker family. Penny Pritzker is a high-level appointee of the Biden Administration as Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery, and the Penny Pritzker Family Trust owns Hyatt stock worth 10.8% of total voting power. The Hyatt Crystal City is jointly owned by Hyatt and the Gould Property Company, a powerful local development group. The Grand Hyatt Washington is owned by Host Hotels, one of the largest owners of hotels in the country.

The Hyatt organizing drive comes amidst a wave of new hotel organizing in the D.C. region and a historic contract victory for union D.C. hotel workers. Just last week, housekeepers at the Royal Sonesta Dupont Circle won union recognition. Last month, D.C. hotel workers overwhelmingly ratified a new contract that will see wages increase to $33 an hour by 2028, protect workers’ free health insurance, increase pension benefits, and preserve good, pre-pandemic working conditions.

UNITE HERE Local 25 is a hospitality workers union that represents 6,500 workers in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Local 25 members are primarily immigrants and women of color.