Queer Community Briefing on Workers' Right to Organize

Queer Community Briefing on Workers' Right to Organize

Pride at Work is hosting a very important briefing about ongoing organizing drives at Le Meridien Hotel, the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf Hotel, and Alcatraz/Hornblower Cruises. We are also very pleased to welcome Cleve Jones, gay and AIDS rights activist and founder of the AIDS memorial quilt to speak about the history of LGBTQ labor alliances.

The San Francisco/Bay Area has a long history of solidarity between worker and queer struggles, and we think it is important to continue this tradition by supporting these two very important organizing campaigns.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Location: The LGBT Center
Street: 1800 Market

The workers at Le Meridien Hotel and the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf Hotel have been organizing with UNITE-HERE Local 2 and are being denied a fair, expedient process to have an option to form a union. Workers at Alcatraz/Hornblower Cruises have been organizing with the Inlandboatman's Union/ILWU and are being met with extreme intimidation, harassment and unfair firings from management. Both organizing campaigns are in a critical stage and are calling for support from the queer community.

Both The Hyatt Corporation and Hornblower Cruises and Events market themselves to the LGBTQ community as queer friendly businesses and are capitalizing on the recent gay marriage victory to draw customers. Yet, while happy gay newlyweds flock to their hotels and cruises, the workers pouring their drinks and crewing their boats are being denied a fair process to form a union. The queer community has already launched a boycott against the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego because their owner was found giving $125,000 to a political committee supporting the Yes on 8 campaign. We think it is important, as progressive queers, to send a strong message that you're not gay friendly if you're not worker friendly.

The purpose of this meeting on the 23rd is to bring together people from the queer and labor communities to brainstorm ways to work together to win these campaigns and strengthen relationships between our movements.