Hispanic hotel workers strike

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LOS ANGELES—Forty-eight housekeeping and laundry workers walked off their jobs Jan. 16 at the Burbank Holiday Inn near Los Angeles. They are protesting wage cuts, increased workloads, and harassment from a racist employer.

The wage cuts and increased workloads are the result of a sweetheart contract signed by Sam Nuckolls, business agent for Local 531 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, and Joseph Perry, owner of the Glendale, Burbank, and Long Beach Holiday Inns.

The contract was negotiated behind the backs of the maids and laundry workers. They were never told what was in it. They found out, however, soon after the contract was ratified by the reluctant workers.

Health insurance was canceled in the new contract, wages were cut from $3.90 to $3.40 an hour, and the work load was raised from 16 to 18 rooms to be cleaned each shift. The unhappiness of his employees upset Joe Perry. He decided to meet the problem head on— by hiring a new crew.

He instructed Gloria Tartagliane, executive housekeeper, to hand out warnings to as many of the maids as possible so they could be fired. He told her that he wanted to hire 20 new workers. When she refused, she and two assistants were transferred to the Glendale hotel. They refused the transfers and were fired.

Hearing of the threatened transfers, 28 maids and laundry workers walked off the job. They demanded that the transfers be rescinded in writing and that other grievances be settled.

Business Agent Nuckolls now appeared to "represent" his union members. He told them they had better get back to work right away as they were in violation of the contract. It contained a clause banning strikes, he said.

When questioned by the press about his workers' grievances, Joe Perry said, "I ain't saying nothing. Silence is golden."

The union has filed a grievance against the hotel but is doing nothing else to support the strikers. The 28 women feel that the union as well as the boss is against them. They need strong community support and the help of other unions to bring this fight to a successful conclusion.

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Steelworkers demonstrate in Pittsburgh against Reagan. Socialist Action Joe Rvan USWA, congratulated the steelworkers of the Mon Valley for their "esprit de corps", stating it was "the fight coming out of the valley" that convinced the International to back Tri-State in funding the feasibility study and to provide a $20,000 grant to winterize the Dorothy Six blast furnace.

Mike Bilscik, president of USWA Local 1256 at the Duquesne Works, encouraged the community to join with the union in maintaining a "gate watch" at the mill, establishing a phone tree which would "be able to get 2000 people called and into the mill within an hour to stop the demolition."

Jim Benn, speaking for the Tri-State Conference on Steel, told the crowd that the meeting marked "the end of neutrality"

"What we're doing tonight, he said, "is setting the stage for plant-shutdown fights across the country. If we don't go into the streets, committed to fight, and say how we feel, we're going to lose."

Speakers from the community, including the president of Duquesne's NAACP, expressed strong support.

Working people in motion Although all the speakers emphasized the themes of unity and determination, it was obvious that not all shared the same vision of a worker-communitycontrolled industry put forth in the Tri-State plan.

The Locker-Abrecht study emphasizes the need for "innovative management practices" and close cooperation between labor and management. It sug-