USA:
Labour Day actions bring mass arrests

by Lucille Whitney

In the biggest action to date by the San Francisco Hotel and Restaurant 
Employees Union (HERE), 147 hotel workers and supporters were arrested on 
Labour Day as 1,000 protesters blocked traffic in front of the St Francis 
Hotel.

The 8,000-member union is negotiating new terms for the renewal of its 
contract with 50 San Francisco hotels and motels and according to HERE 
President Mike Casey "negotiations are going way too slow".

The focus of negotiations is on four main points: improved health and 
welfare benefits, a wage rise from $12-an-hour to $13.50, job security and 
work reduction (room cleaners are so overworked they can't finish their 
work in a shift and many are suffering injuries as a result of speedup).

The union is pressuring the multi-employer Group, which represents some of 
San Francisco's largest hotels. "After we get a contract with them, we'll 
use that to secure similar agreements with the remaining 39 hotels", Casey 
says.

Also on Labour Day, in Palo Alto about 40 hospital workers were arrested as 
they protested against a lack of contract at Lucille Salter Packard 
Children's Hospital.

About 250 demonstrators marched from the hospital to the main highway, 
where they blocked traffic.

And in San Jose, more arrests followed a protest at the Stanford Health 
Care Hospital.

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People's Weekly World

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