Hyatt Hotel housekeepers Martha & Lorena Reyes were humiliated in front of coworkers, then fired a few weeks later.
Tell Hyatt to give them their jobs back.
Martha Reyes walked in the employee entrance of the Santa Clara Hyatt Regency to the sound of her male colleagues laughing.
She believed they were laughing at her.
It was “Housekeeping Appreciation Week” at the Hyatt and to celebrate, a digitally altered photo collage of Hyatt Housekeepers' faces -- including Martha’s and her sister Lorena’s -- superimposed on bikini-clad cartoon-bodies was posted on a bulletin board at work.
She felt humiliated and embarrassed. But she knew her sister Lorena -- also a housekeeper at Hyatt -- would be even more so. Martha tore the posters of her and her sister down. Then, with management present, a coworker told Martha she needed to return the photos.
She refused and said if they wanted it back, they'd have to take her to court.
Hyatt management fired Martha and Lorena just a few weeks later.
They were fired for allegedly taking too long on their lunch break. But we don't buy that excuse for a second. Here's why:
Martha and Lorena worked at that hotel as housekeepers for 7 and 24 years respectively. During that time, the Reyes sisters were good employees. On the day she was fired, the HR Director told Martha she was an "excellent worker" and that there hadn't been any complaints about her. Before the day Lorena was fired, she had never in her 24 years been written up for a single break violation.
The firing of the Reyes sisters is a new low, even for Hyatt, which is looking to grow it's hotel chain in major tourist markets like Australia and the United Kingdom.
What happened to the Reyes sisters is just another example of Hyatt's culture of disrespect for its workers: Hyatt housekeepers have high rates of injury, and in 2011 various state and federal agencies issued 18 citations against Hyatt for alleged safety violations. Hyatt has even lobbied against new laws that would make housekeeping work safer, and has made it a pattern of firing housekeepers only to hire subcontractors everywhere from Manilla to Boston.
Martha is the mother of five children and fears she may lose her house. Lorena is a mother of three and is struggling as the sole supporter of her family. As long-time employees of Hyatt, the Reyes sisters deserve some basic decency and the right to complain about their workplace without being fired.
As potential Hyatt customers, we have to draw the line. Sexually degrading housekeeping staff is unacceptable by any measure and the CEO of should take responsibility for Hyatt's culture of disrespect for its workers now.
- Kaytee, Taren, and the rest of us
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