Alex Shebar
Staff writer
(July 20, 2007) — Sandwiched between the
manicured Crowne Plaza
Hotel lawn and the busy traffic of State
Street, hundreds of people
Thursday chanted, cheered, clapped and
screamed.
They were rallying outside the hotel to
urge the hotel's management to allow workers to
form a union.
The rally was the seventh
in a yearlong struggle.
Members of Rochester Clergy and Laity
United for Economic
Justice, along with Hotel Workers Rising, a
national movement, and
UNITE HERE, local union representatives, stood
on the sidewalk with
hundreds of community members to push for a
union. A 50-foot wall of
3,000 signatures on cardboard panels marked a
key part of the rally.
Having "3,000 signatures on a labor
petition in Rochester is
unheard of. ... This is a bomb exploding of
support in Rochester for
this cause," said Jason Crane, organizing
director for the Rochester
regional joint board of UNITE HERE.
During the rally, multiple members of
Rochester clergy and government spoke in favor
of a unionized hotel.
Mayor
Robert Duffy talked about the fact that many
organizations, such as the
New York State Democratic Committee and the
AFL-CIO, would not come to
Rochester because it lacks unionized hotels.
"It's all about bringing more business,
more conventions and more economic structure to
Rochester," Duffy said.
The Clarion
Riverside, Hyatt Regency, Brighton Marriott
Courtyard and Doubletree are also
non-unionized.
Duffy announced that he was setting up a
meeting between Paul
Kremp, Crowne Plaza general manager, and Gary
Bonadonna, joint board
manager of UNITE HERE.
"You have two well-respected gentlemen
that if we can get to
the table to at least talk ... it would be a
huge first step," Duffy
said. "Communication is key."
Other speakers included state
Assemblyman David Gantt, Minister
Clifford Florence of the Central Church of
Christ, the Rev. Kaaren
Anderson of the First Unitarian Universalist
Church and the Rev.
William Spilly of the Saint Anne Elizabeth
Seton Catholic Church.
The union struggle is with Kremp and
Crowne Plaza owner
Tzong-Jer Wei. While Crowne Plaza is a chain,
hotels are sold as
individual franchises and it's up to the owners
to decide whether to
unionize.
During the rally, Novlette Ramsook, a
front desk worker at the hotel, spoke out about
workers' right for a union.
She
explained that she had hurt her hand and arm
while on the job, but the
hotel wrote it up as an injured pinky finger,
reducing her workers'
compensation.
"I think if we had a union, they would
be less apt to do something like this because
they know that we have backing," she
said.
Kremp
said earlier that push for a union was from
only a minority of the
staff. No other employees would comment on the
rally or the possible
union.
The rally ended with clergy members
presenting the signatures to Kremp.
ASHEBAR@DemocratandChronicle.com
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