New England JLC Supports Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill Hotel Workers
Photo via New England Jewish Labor Committee
September 9, 2015 -- Boston, MA: Jewish Labor Committee members joined 400 Boston hotel workers at Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill Hotel earlier today as part of the workers' efforts to secure a safe and healthy workplace.
Workers at the hotel clean rooms for Massachusetts General Hospital patients at MGH's 8-bed sleep study in the hotel, which is right next to the hospital.
Hotel workers filed an OSHA complaint in May, stating that they cleaned blood, vomit, feces, and needles without sufficient training and protection, and the agency opened an inspection of the hotel that month. They submitted evidence to the agency supporting their allegations of hazardous working conditions related to the potentially infectious materials. Workers also allege lacking information about the waste they clean and dispose of from the MGH sleep study inside the hotel.
They went on strike June 25, 2015 and they testified at Boston City Council that they were afraid for their safety at work.
In July, the hotel hired a temporary agency to clean the MGH sleep study facility. The workers are still concerned that the temps are not given enough training and that "the hotel is going in the wrong direction."
"We are seriously concerned about health and safety conditions in our workplace. Although we clean up after medical patients, we have not always had gloves to protect ourselves or cleaning supplies adequate to do our jobs. Housemen have had to transport bloody linens through the hotel without leak-proof, biohazard bags. Housekeepers have had to dispose of potentially contaminated needles without training on procedures for doing so safely."
According to a Boston Globe article*, Brian Lang, President of Unite Here Local 26 said that Wyndham management has been resisting workers' attempts to join a union, but the complaints filed by the housekeepers with OSHA are "independent of the issue of unionization."
* "Wyndham housekeepers say waste from patients endangers them," Boston Globe, May 20, 2015,
Photo via Unite Here Local 26