Workers on Strike @ Swan and Dolphin

[tjcjr]

Disney World Hotel Workers Strike
Tue May 28,10:18 AM ET
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) - Hundreds of workers at two hotels on Walt Disney World property walked off the job Tuesday in what is the first strike in years in the Orlando area's tourism industry.
Teamsters-affiliated housekeepers, laundry workers, seamstresses and public area attendants at the Swan and Dolphin hotels picketed outside the hotels.
Last week, the workers rejected for a second time a three-year contract covering 400 of the hotels' 2,000 workers. Management said it would implement the contract unilaterally.
Although the hotels are on Disney property, they are owned by Tishman Hotel Corp. and managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
Treva Marshall, a spokeswoman for the hotels, couldn't comment immediately on whether there was any disruption in services.
Workers wanted a guaranteed 40-hour work week and job assignments based on seniority.
Strikes in Orlando's tourism industry are rare. Area labor leaders could recall only two in the past decade: a musicians' strike at Walt Disney World and one by hotel workers at the Grosvenor Resort near Walt Disney World.
Hundreds of hotel workers were laid off last year during the tourism slowdown.
There also had been fears of a strike in Las Vegas this week. But Monday, a weekend walkout on the Strip was likely averted when unions representing culinary workers and bartenders agreed to a five-year deal with hotel-casino giant MGM Mirage.

 

[Kath816]

Ah, we were at the Boardwalk until yesterday (Monday). On Sunday a plane pulling a banner kept flying round the resorts pulling a banner saying "workers abused at Swan and Dolphin hotels." This explains the message. We couldn't figure out what was going on.

 

[Kath816]

Ah, we were at the Boardwalk until yesterday (Monday). On Sunday a plane kept flying round the resorts pulling a banner saying "workers abused at Swan and Dolphin hotels." This explains the message. We couldn't figure out what was going on.

 

[DisDuck]

What does that NLRB ruling have to do with Swan & Dolphin? Also, what abuse are these workers suffering? Always curious when I see "worker" abuse mentioned in regards to a strike. Is management, hitting them, calling them nasty names, threatening to kill them if they "work"?

In 2002 what is "worker" abuse? Sweatshop environment. Chained to their workstation. What?

 

[ralphd]

'Abuse' does seem to an attempt to infer a sweatshop environment. The advertisment on the plane must be an attempt to apply political pressure on the company that owns the hotels.
There are two sides to every question.

ralphd

 

[Captain_Nemo]

The link confused me too, but I think I found the correct one...

http://www.teamster.org/02news/nr_020524_3.htm

Given that you can fit only so much on a banner hung off the tail of an airplane, what word would you use instead of "abuse"?

Unfair -sounds like two kids whining to their parents
misused -oopsy, we accidentally forgot how to use the workers.
Mistreatment -to long
Exploit -this might have some possibility, but it is trite

Ideas?

 

[DisDuck]

I would say neither applies as the article did not quote numbers. Just because the workers say not a decent wage doesn't mean they weren't offered one. Rejection just means they want more.

I remember a strike many moons ago against a company called Railway Express Agency (also teamsters). They rejected contract stating not a decent wage. Pickets prevented REA from bringing in new workers so what happened.. Anyone ever hear of this company.. No they went out of business.

Sometimes workers expectations exceed reality.

 

[JohnMouse]

I remember Railway Express....when I was a kid I used to see often their green trucks with billboards on their sides. REA was the UPS of its day. I think it was the late 70s when they went out of business.