Thank you, Maria Elena, for those words and for the great job you and the LA County Federation are doing — and the same goes for Tom Walsh and Local 11 -- Truly one of the great unions in the American labor movement.

Brothers and sisters, you heard what Tom and these workers had to say, and now I have a message from the 11.5 million members of AFL-CIO unions across our country — we are WITH YOU in your struggle.

And we will be standing with you and fighting with you until we bring the Hyatt Regency and the Hyatt Andaz and EVERY hotel in Los Angeles to justice! 

The fight starts on behalf of the 700 Hyatt workers who will lead the way to better contracts for 4,000 hotel workers in this city — you will set the standard, and from what I’m hearing, it’s a standard you intend to raise. 

We are glad this fight begins with Hyatt, because Hyatt is a company that made $1.3 billion dollars in profit between 2004 and 2008 — Hyatt has more than enough money to pay better wages and benefits.

We are delighted to make Hyatt #1 in these negotiations because this highly profitable company is also #1 in workplace injuries among the top five U.S. hotel corporations — Hyatt has a horrible safety record.  

And we are happy to take on Hyatt first because they took the lead in taking on their workers — in Boston, Hyatt took advantage of 100 dedicated workers who didn’t have a union, threw them in the street and replaced them with $8 an hour contract workers.

On behalf of those Boston workers and the 700 Hyatt workers here and 4,000 more Los Angeles hotel workers … and hotel workers all across our country …

It is TIME to take on the Hyatt Hotel Corporation.

What Hyatt and the other big hotel chains don’t seem to want to understand is that JOBS are about people’s LIVES.  The fight for GOOD JOBS is not some abstract fight for us --- it’s a fight for the right to work hard and get some respect for that work, whatever it is …

To work without fear of injury or insult.

To take pride in your work and be able to take care of yourself and your family … and give your children a little better future than you have. 

Hotel work is hard work — lifting heavy mattresses, pushing heavy cleaning equipment, wrestling with long sheets and pillows --- more and more pillows.

At Hyatt Hotels, the workload is heavy, and the pressure to work faster and faster is causing more and more injuries.  A new study published this month in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine says that housekeepers at Hyatt Hotels are more likely to get injured on the job than at any other major hotel chain.

Silvia Sanchez has worked as a housekeeper at THIS Hyatt Hotel for more than 20 years, and she knows the cruelty of work speed all too well — when she was forced to inspect 150 guest rooms a day, she suffered repetitive motion injuries to her shoulder and her arm …. and now she’s on disability and can’t come back to work.

Silvia is not alone — hundreds of hard-working hotel workers in this city have to deal with chronic pain, nerve damage to their hands and wrists, and back injuries every day.

We can change all that by working together.

If there’s one thing I know, it is this – a job is a GOOD job because working people fight to make it one --- it doesn’t matter if the job is in a coal mine or a hotel …. A classroom or a car wash. 

And we intend to FIGHT … by insisting that Hyatt and other hotel owners agree to safer workload standards ..... to stop the injuries .... to stop the pain .... and to provide livable wages and affordable benefits .... so that hotel workers can take care of themselves and their families just like all workers in America want to do.

That’s our challenge .... that’s our goal .... working together, and standing together … and fighting together to make Los Angeles not only a top tourist attraction .... but a good and decent place to live and work.

Thank you all .... God bless you and your families ....

Let’s take our fight to Hyatt and to every hotel owner in Los Angeles.