Pressuring a San Diego Hyatt
By
SAN DIEGO, Calif.--On January 9, over 500 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activists, union activists and workers from across the state converged on the Manchester Grand Hyatt to voice their outrage over owner Doug Manchester's treatment of gay people and the employees who work in his chain of hotels.
The demonstration was one of hundreds organized by UNITE HERE as part of an ongoing boycott effort in response to Manchester's donation of $125,000 to the Proposition 8 campaign, which helped the anti-gay marriage amendment make it onto the 2008 California ballot.
The boycott has also been used to highlight Manchester's atrocious treatment of his non-union, majority immigrant staff. Workers at Manchester's hotels are routinely forced to clean twice the amount of rooms for the same pay at other hotels, and Manchester has been known to use mass firings to silence and intimidate immigrant workers when they stand up for their rights on the job.
The protest, which featured well-known LGBT rights activist Cleve Jones as a speaker, was to "welcome" the American Historical Association, which had, against UNITE HERE's urgings, scheduled its conference at the Manchester for the weekend of January 9. Earlier protests this past year swayed the California State Bar to pull their conference, and the victory has spurred UNITE HERE and their supporters to keep the pressure on.
Jason Graham, a worker from Los Angeles' UNITE HERE Local 11, explained why he came out to join the demonstration: "I am a member of both communities [LGBT and labor]. What people like Manchester don't understand is that most gay people are workers, and he's trampling over all our rights." Graham went on to say that the workers at Manchester's hotels and restaurants deserve the same security as the bosses, and that all families deserve the same legal protections.
Organizing around the boycott has fostered an inspiring sense of solidarity among forces fighting for LGBT rights and union rights. The San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality, formed in response to the undemocratic top-down No on 8 campaign, is one of several groups that has supported UNITE HERE Local 30's efforts in the boycott--which has thus far cost Doug Manchester over $9 million in contracts.
