As I posted last Friday, Hyatt hotels in Boston have laid off housekeeping staff, hiring an outside contractor at lower pay and no health benefits.
Hyatt has attempted to quell the public relations nightmare by creating a task force to help laid off workers find new jobs. Oh. Swell. A task force.
Of course, Hyatt's response ignores the central problem: laying off benefited employees and hiring new staff without health benefits passes off the expense of employee health care to the state.
It's evident that Hyatt doesn't give a crap that their new housekeeping staff won't be able to afford health insurance at the minimum wage of $8/hour.
Commenters here and on newspaper websites have raised the question of security with such underpaid and obviously disposable staff. But what about the health risks of room cleaners without access to health care (aside from emergency rooms and free clinics)? When you're making $8/hour are you going to go to the emergency room when you're sick, or are you going to drag yourself into work and cough and sneeze all over the sheets and pillows?
Hyatt's approach is that this is a PR problem, and they only need to make token measures to make it all go away and everyone forgets it ever happened.
I won't forget.