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Background: Hotel Workers' Rights in Emeryville
In November 2005, Emeryville voters approved Measure C, a living wage law for hotel workers. The measure guarantees workers a living wage, job security when hotels are sold, and reasonable workload limits. Emeryville's hotel workers, mostly immigrant women of color facing low wages, huge work quotas, and a lack of job security, hoped that Measure C would finally bring them fair pay and respect on the job.
The Woodfin Suites has routinely used immigration status as an intimidation tactic.
Throughout the summer, the Woodfin intimidated workers who were trying to enforce Measure C. They fired houseman Eduardo Martinez for assisting with Measure C outreach and held several "captive-audience" meetings for employees, claiming, among other things, that the law will cause immigrant workers to lose their jobs.
Woodfin managers held a group of immigrant housekeepers in the hotel attic for two hours, telling them that immigration agents were outside detaining workers, and that these agents were probably called by EBASE.
In September 2006, managers at the Woodfin Suites told workers that they must re-submit their work authorization documents, saying that the hotel did not retain copies of the documents. The employees, some of whom have worked at the hotel for several years and who have never before been asked to re-verify their work status, believed that this was an attempt to intimidate them in response to their support for Measure C.
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On October 5th, nearly 30 workers were given written notices saying that the company had found problems with their social security numbers, and that they could not continue to work at the hotel unless they corrected the problem within two weeks (now extended a month).
Workers have continued to stand up and fight for their rights under Measure C.
In August, the City of Emeryville sent a letter to the hotels, telling them that they had a month to come into compliance with Measure C. Workers at the Woodfin presented a petition to management, demanding that the hotel come into compliance. Workers from the Woodfin and the Marriott Courtyard told the Emeryville City Council that they were not being paid in accordance with Measure C and they had not received the required notices about their rights under the ordinance.
After learning of the workers' testimony before the City Council, the Marriott gave workers a $3-4 raise to comply with Measure C. The Woodfin reduced housekeeping workloads from 16 suites to 10 suites, a major victory for the housekeepers.
In order to collect over $160,000 in wages owed to them under Measure C, workers filed a lawsuit in state court. They also filed for an injunction to prevent the hotel from firing employees on the basis of alleged Social Security "no-matches". The workers argued that the threatened firings constitute illegal retaliation against employees who spoke out for their legal rights. The case is still pending.
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