As chants of “Hyatt, Hyatt you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side” echoed off the buildings in downtown Seattle, approximately 80 supporters gathered to picket outside of the Grand Hyatt on 8th and Pine. Demonstrators were serenaded by the dulcet tones of the labor chorus as they stood in the cold wind sweeping through the city.

Robert Kelly, a banquet server at the Grand Hyatt, “sees a lot of glaring inequalities” at the “non Union Hyatt”. “Healthcare is one of the most important things for me and my family, but the Hyatt insurance cost $200 just for me, without my family. At the Westin, it’s $40 with all of us fully insured.”

From a M.L. King County Labor Council email…

“Hyatt workers throughout the US have called for a fair process to form their unions. Over a year ago UNITEHERE and Hyatt Hotels reached a national agreement for such a process. Although Hyatt workers in California, Connecticut and Maryland have won their unions through this process, the local owner of the Grand Hyatt Seattle and Hyatt at Olive 8 has refused to implement it in Seattle.

Workers should be able to choose a union free from employer interference or intimidation – and all workers deserve respect and decent working conditions.”