Last December, a judge
ordered the Woodfin Suites Hotel to pay workers some $200,000 in
backwages. The hotel still hasn't paid up. But Woodfin has
suffered yet another legal setback. Last month, the court of appeals
rejected Woodfin's preposterous appeal demanding that the City of
Emeryville pay the hotel legal fees.
The boycott is still on, so
please don't patronize the Woodfin. We'll let you know when the workers
get backwages checks in hand. In the meantime, check out other hotels
where you can stay and join us on the picket line.
There's lots to celebrate on the road to backwages!
No sooner had the sun risen over the Oakland hills this morning than
protestors started gathering outside of Emeryville's boycotted Woodfin
Suites Hotel. And by about 8:00 AM, the crowd had swelled to over 60
workers, residents, and community members. Our early morning message,
carried on placards and sung in chants, was clear: Woodfin needs to wake up and obey a court order to pay up some $200,000 in back wages, owed to dozens of working immigrant mothers.
As we reported last month, Superior Court Judge Steven Brick has
ordered
Woodfin to do just that, rejecting all of the hotel's legal
arguments. And speaking of court, just this week, a move by the hotel
provoked fresh anger on the part of Emeryville residents. Turns out
Woodfin just filed a brief in support of an appeal demanding the City of Emeryville
pay the hotel approximately $500,000 in legal fees. (Yes,
the comma's in the right place. We're talking about 6 figures.)
Flabbergasted Emeryville resident Juanita Caroll Young had this to say:
The
Woodfin spends years recklessly trying to undermine a voter-approved
living wage law, and now they want a $500,000 "bailout" from taxpayer
funds? I'm strengthening my resolve to support the boycott and walk the
picket line with the workers.
Hear Brooke Anderson on KPFA's evening news at minute 15:37 and check out the Daily Image on Oakland Local. And please don't patronize the Woodfin! Here are some alternatives.
The boycott's still on at the Woodfin, but unfortunately not everyone is honoring the boycott.
As most of you have already heard, on December 14th, an Alameda Superior Court Judge ordered the Woodfin Suites Hotel to pay over $200,000 in backwages in what is being seen as a crushing legal defeat for the hold out hotel.
While this is certainly the most significant legal milestone to date in the workers' four-year fight for justice, the Woodfin is still considering whether to appeal further and so the pickets and community boycott will continue until workers have checks in hand.
Unfortunately, not everyone is honoring the boycott. The Institute of Management Consultants will be holding a "Build Your Business in 2010" Conference at the Woodfin on January 16th. Ironically, they have chosen to patronize the Woodfin, a business built on bucking the law and cheating workers out of their hard-earned wages.
Here's what we need you to do:
1. Call Institute of Management Consultants contact, Deborah Droz at 877-216-0612 and tell her to respect the boycott and move their event. Here's what you can say: "Hi Deborah, my name is ____ and I've been a long time supporter of the boycott at the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville and I am calling to urge you to move your event to a hotel that respects their workers." Please drop us an email (see email below) to let us know how the call went.
2. Join us on the picket line on Saturday, January 16th from 7:30-9 AM at the Woodfin at 5800 Shellmound in Emeryville. We'll have pastries and coffee, and lots to celebrate!
For more information, or to RSVP, please contact Brooke Anderson at 510-846-0766 or at brooke(at)workingeastbay.org.
Great news, friends! This week, Superior Court Judge Steven Brick upheld Emeryville's order for the Woodfin hotel to pay about $200,000 in back wages to dozens of working immigrant mothers. In a crushing defeat for Woodfin, Judge Brick rejected all of the hotel's arguments. This is the biggest legal milestone yet in the workers’ long fight for justice!! Read all about it in EBASE's latest press release.
The news came at a poignant time for workers: “At Christmas time three years ago, the Woodfin tried to fire us when we asked them to pay us what we’d earned [under a city living wage ordinance],” said former Woodfin housekeeper Luz D. “... The Woodfin never wanted to recognize our hard work and our rights as workers, but we’re so happy that Judge Brick and the City of Emeryville have.”
Luz, her coworkers, and the hundreds of labor, faith, and community supporters who've passionately picketed, leafleted, marched on, and boycotted the Woodfin have a simple message for San Diego-based owner Sam Hardage:
Don't be a grinch!
In the words of EBASE Deputy Director Brooke Anderson: “Until you pay every penny you owe, the worker, their families and the community will be out on the picket lines demanding justice.”
Stories and photos by Aditi Vaidya and Brooke Anderson on EBASE's work appear in Urban Habitat's latest issue of Race, Poverty, and the Environment. This issue, "Everyone Has the Right to...", focuses on "the kind of organizing needed to win social and economic rights for all."
Throughout the past few months, the Woodfin Suites Hotel has argued their case before the Emeryville City Council, claiming that they do not owe backwages to their workers. You all have been there throughout those months, rallying, singing, marching, and demanding that the Woodfin pay their workers the $200,000 that they're owed under Measure C.
On January 15th, the Emeryville City Council decided to uphold the City Manager's backwage order to the hotel! Their decision was an important victory on the road to backwages for the Woodfin workers. Now we need to make sure that the Woodfin pays up. Throughout the past few months, the Woodfin Suites Hotel has argued their case before the Emeryville City Council, claiming that they do not owe backwages to their workers. You all have been there throughout those months, rallying, singing, marching, and demanding that the Woodfin pay their workers the $200,000 that they're owed under Measure C.
On January 15th, the Emeryville City Council decided to uphold the City Manager's backwage order to the hotel! Their decision was an important victory on the road to backwages for the Woodfin workers. Now we need to make sure that the Woodfin pays up. Join us at a picket at the Woodfin on Wednesday, February 18th from 5:00-6:30 PM. Grab an umbrella, bundle up, and we'll see you on the picket line! If you have questions or to let us know that you're coming, contact Elizabeth at 510-893-7106 x 328 or Elizabeth[at]workingeastbay.org.
On January 15th, current and former workers of the Woodfin Suites Hotel
in Emeryville won an historic victory against the hotel that owes them
some $200,000 in backwages for shifts they worked in 2006 under the
city's Measure C Living Wage Ordinance. However, with the Woodfin
pledging to take the matter to court, workers vow to keep the pressure
on.
The workers' victory in this latest chapter of the 3-year "David vs.
Goliath" dispute came at the conclusion of a marathon 5-day hearing
process begun in November 2008.
Incredibly, throughout the hearing, Woodfin lawyers and managers
challenged the definition of "cleaning" - arguing that their
hard-working housekeepers weren't owed their full wages under the law
because they had the assistance of supervisors and housemen (arguing
that cleaning is not just done by the housekeepers with their hands,
but by other employees with "their eyes and their heads").
But the Woodfin failed to convince a majority of the Council of this
logic. Instead, Emeryville City Council decided yesterday evening to
uphold the entirety of the City Manager's backwage order to the hotel,
with only one minor modification.
As the decision was announced, a packed hearing room of workers and
their supporters burst out with cheers and applause, chanting "¡Sí se
pudo" ("it could be done!").
An attorney consulting with the City will now write the findings of
fact based on Thursday's decision, which the Council is expected to
adopt at an upcoming meeting.
Wary that the hotel may seek to stall the payout by filing further
legal appeals, workers are vowing to continue their fight until they
have the money in hand. "Our
struggle for justice has lasted more than one thousand days, and it's
already been an inspiration to my children. I look forward to sharing
this hard-earned money with my family when it finally arrives," said former Woodfin worker Luz D.
"It's time for Woodfin owner, Sam Hardage, to accept reality, pay
up, and move on. But until workers have checks in hand, we'll be on the
Woodfin picket line enforcing the boycott," said Brooke Anderson, EBASE's Organizing Director.
To all of you who ever stepped foot on a picket line, called the
Woodfin, donated to the hardship fund, marched and rallied with us,
from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! This fight is about
backwages, yes, but it is also about justice, dignity and respect for
working families, and that is something money can't win, but rather is
won only through the love and dedication of a community committed to
justice. This victory is yours as well. Please stay involved by coming
out to the picket line until workers have that long-dreamt of check in
hand. We'll be announcing the next picket date soon.
When I first met the housekeepers at the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville several years ago, they were hurting. Literally. As one worker, Lorena, explained:
I started working [at the Woodfin] with a desire to improve my life. …we were cleaning 14 rooms, then 15, 16, and finally 17 suites per day. Sometimes I couldn't even stop to get a glass of water. I would get home with my feet very swollen, my hands swollen, and with a headache. When we couldn't finish, they made us punch out after 8 hours and told us to finish. I even started wondering if we were living in times of slavery. I asked God to open up a way for us to get justice because it was too much.
Nationwide, the lucrative hospitality industry was cutting costs by increasing housekeeper workloads - a cost transferred directly onto the injured backs and shoulders of its low-wage workers, most of whom lacked health insurance. On top of that, hotels were vying for guests by offering more amenities, like bigger beds, more pillows, and in-room kitchenettes – all of which added to the workload of their already exhausted room cleaners. As Lorena suggests, workers were at a breaking point.
So in November 2005, Emeryville voters adopted an ordinance establishing a living wage and fair workload standards for hotels there, where tourists and business-people visiting the San Francisco Bay Area frequently stay.
The ordinance set a modest $9/hour minimum wage for hotel workers, and said that workers who cleaned over 5,000 square feet of hotel rooms in a single 8-hour shift would receive time-and-a-half pay. But by Spring 2006, workers hadn't seen the change. Lorena and her co-workers at the Woodfin Hotel were still cleaning 17 suites (each the size of a studio apartment) per day, not the 9-10 room limit suggested by the square footage. Dozens of Woodfin workers signed a petition to management, testified at city council, and spoke out in the media, demanding their rights under the new law.
The Woodfin immediately moved to fire worker leaders, and eventually succeeded in doing so. (One attempt came a mere 10 days before Christmas.) The hotel claimed they had received Social Security "no-match" letters for the workers and they therefore had no choice but to terminate them, despite the fact that many workers had been employed at the hotel for years and despite instructions on the letters themselves not to take any action against workers.
After months of worker actions, growing community picket lines outside the hotel, a statewide boycott, interfaith prayer services, and multiple city complaints and lawsuits, the Woodfin finally brought the workload into compliance with the living wage law. However, by that time, the hotel owed workers around $200,000 in backwages for the nearly one year in which they had overworked them and refused to comply with the law.
Workers like Lorena never got their jobs at the Woodfin back. But that didn't mean they were going away. A broad based community coalition raised $50,000 to support fired workers and their families as they staged 6hr/day pickets outside the hotel demanding their backwages. Some workers were owed up to $10,000 in back pay.
Tired of the worker-led protests, the Woodfin Suites – owned by wealthy San Diego Republican Sam Hardage – used its political connections to ask Congressman Brian Bilbray to have Homeland Security investigate the immigration status of the Emeryville hotel workers in an apparent effort to drive them from the picket lines. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at workers homes, grilling one worker leader in front of her daughter.
Today, over 1,000 days since the living wage law went into effect, workers still haven't seen a single penny of their nearly $200,000 in backwages. The city administration ordered the Woodfin to pay earlier this fall, however the hotel has appealed the decision before a full hearing of the City Council to take place on Monday, November 17th at 7 PM.
The Woodfin's options are declining by the day. The hotel's legal challenges to the law's constitutionality have twice been rejected, the city has made the hotel's operating permit contingent on payment of backwages, and many frequent clients have respected the boycott and pulled their business.
Meanwhile, workers like Lorena and their community supporters are hoping for "God to open up a way" for the Woodfin to finally do right by them and that they'll have their hard-earned checks in hand in time for Christmas, a happier Christmas than the one two years ago when they faced the loss of their jobs.
Woodfin workers will get their backwages, and hopefully sooner rather than later.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: For those of you in the Bay Area, join us on Monday, November 17th at 5 PM at the Woodfin Suites Hotel (5800 Shellmound, Emeryville) for a march from the hotel to Emeryville City Council before the hearing. For more information or to RSVP, visit www.workingeastbay.org/Woodfin_hearing.
THE FUTURE How will immigrant workers like Lorena, fighting to raise wages and standards on the job, fare under the next administration? Bush's Department of Homeland Security says it takes "enforcement action" to prevent employers who hire undocumented immigrants from driving down standards. But the Woodfin case shows that in reality when immigrant workers stand up for their rights, it is the government that gives their employer tools like employer sanctions, raids, and SSA "no-match" letters to use against its workers who are trying to raise standards on the job, and that it is precisely these attacks on immigrant workers that drive standards down.
So, here are some things that President-Elect Obama can do immediately for housekeepers like Lorena and immigrant workers across the U.S.:
Put a moratorium on the raids that are separating families, and select a new head of ICE that will respect, not terrorize, our communities;
Halt Homeland Security's attempt to make Social Security Administration "no-match" letters grounds for mandatory firings;
Ask Congress to pass a legalization bill that will protect and strengthen workers' rights; and
Champion the Employee Free Choice Act that would restore workers' freedom to organize and strengthen penalties for employer retaliation.
Last night, I got an email advising me to “bundle up” for this morning’s picket outside the Woodfin hotel in Emeryville – it was only 39F at 7:00AM when the picket started! Even for this Midwesterner (in my hometown this morning, it “felt like” 22 degrees below zero!), it was cold!
But we weren’t swayed! Warmed by piping hot coffee and enthusiastic chant leaders, this morning’s picket wasn’t one to be missed. Several dozen folks gathered outside the Woodfin to continue our demand for the $250,000 in back wages the hotel owes its former workers. The hotel has been ordered to set the money aside (in case you missed it - the city of Emeryville ordered the hotel to pay the back wages, but the Woodfin failed to comply and is now engaged in a lawsuit with the city). We’re getting closer to victory… but we have to continue to make sure the Woodfin knows that we’re not going anywhere until they pay up!
This morning’s picket was reminiscent of last year’s weekly early morning pickets – bitter cold temperatures, lively spirits, and tireless labor solidarity! And as we munched on Arizmendi pastries and shouted for guests to check out of the villainous hotel this morning, one wonders if the Woodfin wasn’t also feeling a sense of nostalgia…
Thanks to everyone who came to the Woodfin campaign celebration on September 19th! For those who couldn't make it, we'd like to share some updates, recognitions, and plans for moving forward.
Legal Update: To no one's surprise, the Woodfin failed to pay workers their back wages by September 14th, the deadline set by the City. The hotel is now operating in violation of its permit. On Monday, September 17th, the City of Emeryville filed a lawsuit against the Woodfin in Alameda County Superior Court, asking the judge to order the Woodfin to comply with its permit and pay penalties of $1,000 per work day as long as it continues to violate the law. Workers will also be filing a motion asking the judge to quickly decide the issue of back wages, so they can get their money as soon as possible.
Picket Schedule: As the legal case is moving forward, we need to keep up the grassroots pressure on the Woodfin and continue pushing clients to take their business elsewhere. Because we may need to sustain the campaign for some time, we are changing the picket schedule to move from "sprint mode" to "marathon mode." We will no longer hold regular Tuesday afternoon and Saturday morning pickets. Instead, we will focus on high-impact strategic actions targeting major events and clients in the hotel. The first of these will be in the second week of October, during a maritime industry conference whose organizers have repeatedly refused to change their venue to a hotel that treats workers fairly. We will send out an announcement with more details soon. In the meantime, enjoy sleeping in this Saturday!
Mil Gracias! A thousand thanks to all the individuals, families, organizations, schools, congregations, and unions who have supported the workers throughout the struggle. We were excited to present recognitions and prizes to some of our campaign superstars:
Unite Here Local 2850, AFSCME Local 3299, St. Joseph the Worker, Alameda County Central Labor Council, East Bay Labor and Community Coalition, International Socialist Organization, Progressive Jewish Alliance, ANSWER Coalition, POWER, ILWU, Building Trades Council, UC Berkeley Labor Center, SEIU Local 247, SEIU Local 1877, LACLAA, San Francisco Labor Council, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Just Cause Oakland, Oakland ACORN, Seminarians for Worker Justice, the Green Party, UNITE HERE Local 2, Centro Legal de la Raza, Pride at Work, SEIU Local 1021, 1021 Latino Solidarity Group, East Bay Young Democrats, Urban Habitat, Students Organizing for Justice in the Americas, La Raza Centro Legal, Ella Baker Center, California Federation of Labor, Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, Juanita Carroll Young, Ray Kidd, Kennedy Helm, Garry Horrocks, Bill Joyce, Joey Plaster, Evelyn Sanchez, Jan Arnold, Michael Rubin, Debra Grabelle, Kathryn Lyberger, Jessie Muldoon, Jean Tepperman, Henry Norr, Israel Alvaran, David Bacon, Rosemary Brennan, Stan Woods, Tom Jackson, Shirley Enomoto, Sandy Stewart, Sandy Butler, and a special thank-you to the next generation of kick-ass labor activists: Yaniry, Jazmin, Hector, Larissa, Ana Karen, Mayra and Salvador.
Thanks to all of you, the Woodfin campaign is known around the country as a case study of the power of community support for immigrant workers. We look forward to working together until Woodfin housekeepers win the victory they deserve.
After a year of struggle, housekeepers at the Woodfin Hotel have won a huge victory in their fight to enforce Emeryville’s living wage law. On August 27, the Emeryville City Council made a final ruling that the hotel must pay about $250,000 in back wages to its housekeepers.
But the fight isn’t over. The Woodfin is still refusing to obey the law and pay its workers the money they earned. A Woodfin lawyer has vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court before paying up! Please help us keep the heat on the Woodfin by coming out to these actions:
Saturday, Sept. 15th, 10 am
Action at the Woodfin! (5800 Shellmound St. in Emeryville)
If the Woodfin hasn’t paid its workers by Sept. 14, it will lose its operating permit. Does that mean the City will lock its doors the next morning? Come find out - and bring a bike lock, just in case.
Wednesday, Sept. 19th, 6:30 pm
Community Celebration!
United Healthcare Workers Office
560 Thomas L. Berkeley Way (20th St.) in Oakland – take BART to 19th Street
Come celebrate our victories, hang out with all the folks you’ve met on the picket lines, check out the premiere of the Woodfin movie, and strategize about what comes next. Bring food to share!
We are also continuing our regular twice-weekly pickets leading up to these actions – so please join us this Tuesday the 11th from 4:30 to 7 pm.
In a unanimous vote last night, the Emeryville City Council ordered the Woodfin Suites Hotel to pay about $300,000 in fines and back wages to housekeepers. The Council rejected the Woodfin’s appeal of a similar decision issued by the City Manager in June.
Over 200 residents, workers, students, faith leaders and activists turned out for the hearing, which followed a momentous rally outside Emeryville’s city hall. The rally was the culmination of a year-long highly visible campaign for the back wages of former and current Woodfin workers!
For months, workers and activists have picketed the hotel, demanding that the company pay back wages to housekeepers who were illegally underpaid under the City’s living wage law. The August 27th rally and hearing marked a milestone victory in the struggle.
As supporters packed the hearing – both the City Hall chambers and the overflow basement were filled – City Council members patiently listened to the Woodfin’s appeal and waited for relevant evidence to surface. When none was produced, the Council motioned to adopt the conditional operating permit ordering the Woodfin to pay its back wages to housekeepers and a $45,500 fine to the City. The Woodfin has until September 14th to pay the wages and the fines.
We are so close to victory - but more remains to be done. The Woodfin has a long history of ignoring orders from the City, and they’ve already announced that they won’t accept this decision. The City’s ruling is final, but the hotel may simply refuse to obey, forcing the City to go to court to make them pay. We need to keep the pressure on the Woodfin until the workers actually receive the money they’ve earned.
Congratulations to Woodfin workers and everyone who has taken action to defend the living wage and fight for worker and immigrant rights! It has been a long battle but we are almost there!
Please join us for a celebratory picket at the Woodfin today, Tuesday, August 28, 2007 from 4:30-7:00 PM, and again on Saturday, September 1, 2007 from 7:00-11:00 AM. Let’s show the Woodfin that we’re not going anywhere!
The Bay Guardian revealed on Wednesday, June 13th that Samuel Hardage – owner of the Woodfin Suites hotel chain – used his political influence as a Republican Party leader and donor to have his Congressman persuade the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency to investigate his very own hotel and workers. Click here to read the article.
In an interview with a Guardian reporter, a representative of Congressman Brian Bilbray's office admitted that the Congressman's office had been asked by the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville to initiate an ICE audit of their very own hotel. Bilbray then asked Julie Myers, the head of ICE, to conduct the audit. ICE agents arrived at the hotel in April – despite ICE’s written policy not to intervene in labor disputes. Woodfin then used the ICE’s audit as justification in court for firing these workers.
For almost a year, Hardage and the local hotel management have repeatedly denied that their motives for terminating the Measure C whistle blowers were retaliatory. Instead they have claimed that they were complying with federal immigration law to avoid criminal and civil penalties. However, while Woodfin told the Alameda Superior Court, the Emeryville City Council and the media that it was firing workers because of the ICE audit, it never mentioned that it had brought this audit onto itself – and had used political connections to do so.
According to the Guardian:
"For months the Woodfin Suites has tried to justify firing workers who organized for better labor conditions by alluding to fears of reprisals by ICE… The 'fact that our hotel has been asked by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide employment records … suggests that our actions are anything but voluntary,' he [Woodfin General Manager, Hugh Macintosh] wrote. The Bilbray connection significantly undermines this claim…"
This is a drastic example of why we need comprehensive immigration reform that includes strong workers' rights protections! Let's rise up against this political corruption and send a strong message to ICE and the Woodfin that the community won't stand for this scandalous cronyism!
Thanks to over 75 people who rallied in support of the workers with less than a day’s notice! They got to witness the marriage of convenience between ICE and Samuel Hardage protrayed in the photo below.
The right-wing, anti-immigrant, anti-worker squads are at it again. This time, they're being sponsored, and paid for, by the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville.
This past Saturday, during our regular picket at the Woodfin, we were joined by twenty five counter-protestors identifying themselves as College Republicans from UC Davis and San Francisco State. They showed up carrying provocative placards - “No Green Card, No Work”, “Justice is at the Back of the Line”, “Union Thugs Go Home”, "Legals YES, Illegals NO," and “Marx Would Be Proud” - and tried to disrupt our protest.
The counter-protestors were openly taking direction from the Woodfin's management, going where the hotel’s General Manager told them to, standing on hotel property. They even bragged that Woodfin management had put them up in free hotel rooms the night before!
When we tried to separate ourselves, they physically shoved into our picket line- even pushing and berating the young children of Woodfin workers! Finally, the Emeryville police created a barrier between them and our peaceful picket, for the safety of all involved.
These brave immigrant women have been peacefully protesting for months, calling on the hotel to follow the law, pay them the hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay they are owed, and rescind their illegal, seemingly retaliatory firings. These kinds of corrupt, strong-arm tactics aren’t surprising from a bad actor like the Woodfin - but they are outrageous.
Fortunately, the Woodfin's plan backfired. We were not intimidated. Nor did we respond to their hateful message with violence. Rather, we put out an emergency call to all our allies to come support us. At 8 am, our 10 picketers were surrounded by 25 counter protestors. By 10:30, our numbers had swelled to 70- and the dispirited, disorganized provocateurs were down to less than a dozen. This kind of amazing solidarity and commitment demonstrates what the East Bay labor, immigrant and progressive community is all about. We intend to maintain disciplined and principled non-violent pickets outside the Woodfin.
However, they will no doubt return, unless and until we show them that “We shall not be moved”. We need your help to do that. Will you join us? There are several ways you can help:
Come join us on the picket line. Join us this Tuesday from 4:30-7 PM, Saturday from 7-11 AM, and Sunday 10AM – 12 PM. Make a commitment to spend at least one hour every week standing beside Woodfin workers and standing up to hatred and intimidation. Let’s make sure there are always more of us than there are of them.
Tell a friend. Forward this email to everyone in your address book, bring a friend to the next protest, and have your organization “adopt” a picket.
Donate to the Living Wage Hardship Fund. This fund is the only source of income Woodfin workers have, until they get the back wages and reinstatement that they are owed. A donation of whatever size will help these modern-day working class heroines survive, and keep fighting for justice. Click here to donate.
Thank you for your solidarity, and sí, se puede - together, we can.
For more information or to get involved, please contact Sarah Norr at (510) 893-7106, ext. 28 or email sarah[at]workingeastbay.org. Check out our website at www.workingeastbay.org.
In response to the recent firings of Woodfin workers, the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice led a prayer vigil outside of the Emeryville City Hall last night. Pastor Ricky Jenkins, an organizer with the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, described prayer as the action we take both because it is all we have and as all we need.
“We come together as people of faith to raise our voices in prayer and supplication, and to call for justice. We summon our public leaders to take concrete action to defend the dignity, rights, and just wages of workers in our midst, in this case, the Woodfin workers,” said Diana Wear, Vice Chair of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.
Forty people, including faith leaders, workers, and Emeryville residents, gathered to sing and pray for justice. Those gathered prayed for and blessed the courageous workers who have been fired after standing up for their rights. They also signed a petition to the City Council asking that the Council take immediate action to defend of the workers by (1) Requiring that the Woodfin give the workers over $200,000 in back wages owed to them; (2) Fining the Woodfin for violations of the living wage ordinance, and with collected fines establish a hardship fund for unemployed hospitality workers; and (3) Requiring that the Woodfin reinstate the fired workers.
On Mothers’ Day, nearly a hundred people came to the Woodfin to picket and leaflet at the hotel’s holiday brunch. The Woodfin, a hotel that fired working moms who stood up for their rights, had a special brunch to celebrate Mothers’ Day – be we came to tell customers about the boycott and to tell them not to Celebrate Mothers’ Day at a Hotel that Fired Working Moms.
“I work to support my two daughters, an 8-year-old and a 1-year-old. The Woodfin has left us without any wages, without anyway to provide food and housing for our children. I think it’s terrible that they are putting mothers out on the street,” said Delfina Z., a housekeeper fired by Woodfin.
Join us in supporting a boycott of the Woodfin Suites! Don’t stay there, tell your friends and family not to stay there, and join us as we talk to frequent clients about the boycott. Contact Liana Molina at 510-893-7106 x20 or liana[at]workingeastbay.org for more information.
Following the unjust firings of twelve immigrant workers by the Woodfin Suites Hotel last Friday, over 300 supporters held an energetic demonstration – chanting, singing and dancing along with a brass band – to call for the workers’ reinstatement and back wages. They demanded that the Emeryville City Council deny the Woodfin’s operating permit until the workers get their money and jobs.
Thirty-eight people – including California Assemblymember Loni Hancock, Berkeley City Councilmember Kris Worthington, faith leaders, labor leaders, students and immigrant rights advocates – blocked the intersection in front of the hotel, shutting down Emeryville streets for hours. Emeryville police swarmed the area and later arrested the 38 people blocking the street.
Guadalupe, who worked at the hotel for five years until she and her co-workers were fired told the crowd, “We are immigrants, not criminals. We came here seeking a better life for our families. We are part of this community, contributing to the American economy.”
The demonstration got heated when a small group of counter-protestors, allegedly paid by the Woodfin, tried to interrupt a speech by Assemblymember Hancock. Police separated the two groups of protestors. Later the crowd cheered when a resident hung a banner from a second story suite of the hotel reading, “Boycott Woodfin.”
The Woodfin workers’ supporters claim the hotel, “Ain’t seen nothing yet.” Deafening protests at the hotel will continue, and boycott organizers will ramp up their efforts to urge Woodfin clients to stop patronizing the hotel until it reinstates the workers and pays them over $200,000 in back wages.
On Tuesday, April 10th, over 300 faith leaders, union
members, students, musicians, community activists, elected officials and
Emeryville residents rallied for immigrant and workers' rights at EmeryvilleCity Hall. Rally participants were
calling on the Emeryville City Council to support Woodfin Suites workers and
hold the hotel management accountable for their retaliation against workers and
for the back wages they owe.
Franciscan Brothers show their solidarity as part of the faith based contingent (top photo) and young girls en la lucha (in the struggle).
The rally was followed by a vibrant march down 40th
Street through Shellmound
Street to raise awareness about the plight of the
Woodfin workers and the boycott of the hotel.
Look out WoodfinSuites!
The march culminated with faith leaders telling the story
of Jericho, sounding the trumpets
and attempting to break down the walls of injustice at the hotel.
Thanks to everyone who rallied and marched with Woodfin
workers: SEIU Locals 1877, 24/7, 1021, 535, UHW, UNITE HERE Locals 2850 and 2, the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, IBEW Local 595, ILWU Local 6, Carpenters Local 713, AFSCME Locals 3299 and 444, AFT, CTA, OEA, CUE, IWW, BAIRC, ACORN, Ella Baker Center, ISO, Youth Together, Anak BAYAN, NNIRR, Just Cause Oakland, Wellstone Democratic Club, East Bay Young Democrats, Urban Habitat, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, Seminarians for Worker Justice, Gray Panthers, Urban Strategies Council, Green Party, Peace and Freedom Party, East Bay Labor Community Coalition, APEN, the Brass Liberation Orchestra (BLO), students from UC Berkeley and Mills College and any one else we forgot.
Together we sent a strong message to the Emeryville City Council and
to the Woodfin Suites that the community will stand with Woodfin workers until
the hotel commits to keep them on the job and pays them the $200,000 in back
wages that they owe!
As many of you know, the workers of the Woodfin Hotel continue to struggle for their just due under Measure C, the Emeryville Living Wage Ordinance that the workers have been fighting for since last year. The Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice has already supported these wonderful workers at the Woodfin Suites Hotel in a number of ways. Members of the committee have supported workers through chaplaincy and prayer as well as led leaders in several delegations at the hotel. Clergy have even flown to San Diego to unite with local Clergy their to share their message of prophetic economic justice to Samuel Hardage, Woodfin owner.
On Thursday, February 22nd, the ICWJ decided to share the message of the workers with some of our closest friends and colleagues. Rosemary Brennan, an associate of Holy Names and longtime board member for the ICWJ, stepped forward and held a Dinner Party in honor of the Woodfin workers. Rosemary, armed with a lifetime's worth of social activism, recruited several Catholic faith community leaders and a host of other friends to hear about the workers plight at the Woodfin Suites. Guests were welcomed with food and drink and a positive atmosphere to share their collective interest in the campaign for justice. Workers Elia and Guadalupe delivered a heart touching testimony about the conditions under which they work and the hopes and dreams they have for the issues at the Woodfin Suites. The guests were moved and signed up to adopt-a-day at the pickets on Tuesdays and Saturdays and passed the hat to collect about $1500 for the Living Wage Hardship Fund. Many thanks go to our star board member, Rosemary Brennan, for pulling this off and to the workers who are showing valiant leadership in the face of adversity.
On behalf of the Woodfin workers and all of us at EBASE, thank you to everyone who joined us last week for the townhall meeting about worker justice at the Woodfin Suites Hotel.
The meeting was a tremendous success! Nearly 100 people packed the Emeryville Senior Center to celebrate the campaign's initial victories and to hear from Woodfin workers, Emeryville residents, immigrant rights experts, and our labor and community allies.
Thanks to a court injunction and emergency city council ordinance, the Woodfin workers went back to work in late December 2006. However, they are now facing increasing intimidation on the job, have not received the $160,000+ owed to them in back pay, and could be fired again as soon as April 2007, when the injunction expires.
Meanwhile, the Woodfin has gone to extremes to try to quell protests and harass workers and their allies. At recent pickets, management placed videographers on the roof, hired a large private security force, and roped off hotel entrances with yellow caution tape. Additionally, they hired expensive lawyers and communications consultants to seek a temporary restraining order against the Central Labor Council, the Building and Construction Trades Council and EBASE. Finding the request baseless, a judge denied their request last week.
Join us in demanding that the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville:
-- Pay workers the $160,000+ owed to them in back pay -- Drop attempts to fire workers, and provide them permanent job security -- Cease all harassment and intimidation of workers and their allies
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
1. Attend pickets every Tuesday from 4:30 - 7 PM and every Saturday from 7 - 11 AM outside the Woodfin Suites Hotel at 5800 Shellmound Street in Emeryville, CA.
2. Attend support committee meetings. If you're an Emeryville resident, join us for a meeting on Tuesday, March 13th at 7 PM. If you live outside Emeryville, join us for a meeting on Tuesday, March 6th at 7 PM (email chaas[at]workingeastbay.org to RSVP and for locations).
3. Go on delegations to clients/guests of the Woodfin Suites Hotel. Join us on Friday, March 2nd from 10 AM - 12 PM at the EBASE office at 1714 Franklin Street, Suite #325 for training.
4. If you're with an organization, ask your organization to endorse the boycott and adopt-a-day on on the Woodfin picket line.
This past Saturday, during our regular picket at the Woodfin, we were joined by twenty five counter-protestors identifying themselves as College Republicans from UC Davis and San Francisco State. They showed up carrying provocative placards - “No Green Card, No Work”, “Justice is at the Back of the Line”, “Union Thugs Go Home”, "Legals YES, Illegals NO," and “Marx Would Be Proud” - and tried to disrupt our protest.
Look out WoodfinSuites! 
