FBI hunts for close in Miami-Boston bomb threats

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The FBI is looking for common denominators in bomb threats on American Airlines flights between Miami and Boston. Two cases have arisen, prompting the FBI to dig a little deeper. The most recent incident occurred on Wednesday, when a flight attendant found “bomb on board, Boston-Miami” written on a bathroom cabinet. A search of the luggage yielded no bombs or other weapons.

On September 17, a flight attendant found a threatening note in the lavatory – the plane had departed Miami at around 9:30 PM and had to head back only 40 minutes later. Again, a search of the plane turned up nothing.

Too coincidental to be a coincidence, it seems, the FBI is looking for any common threads that may exist.

Hyatt will assure new jobs for all displaced Boston housekeepers

by Scott Carmichael on

It has been a pretty bad week for Hyatt. First, their Boston hotels were accused of tricking their housekeeping employees into retraining a replacement crew before firing them.

Then Hyatt responded that the accusations were untrue. And then the Boston unionized cab drivers decided to refuse to drop passengers off at Hyatt properties. To make matters worse. the Massachusetts Governor decided it would be politically rewarding (for himself) to demand a boycott of all Hyatt properties for MA workers.

Of course, this completely misses the point, as telling people to stop spending their money at a hotel will only punish the remaining workers. The whole purpose of having to lay off the 100 housekeepers was to reduce costs so the hotels could stay open.

Hopefully the whole incident can now come to an end, as Hyatt has found new jobs for the housekeeping staff they made redundant. The staff can all go to work for a local employer, and will be hired at their previous rate. In addition to this, they’ll also continue to get health coverage till March 31st 2010, after which they can get coverage from their new employer.

Anyone who wishes to pick a different career move will be offered free training and career services, and a task force has been established to open a dialogue with the employees to assist them any way they can.

I’m very surprised how quickly this whole incident blew up. People are losing their jobs every day, and you rarely hear anything other than the basic statistics on the news. Why this individual case managed to get so much attention is really beyond me. Obviously, any time staff are made redundant is a pretty tragic case, but Hyatt was no different than the thousands of other companies trying to stay alive in this challenging economy.

Hopefully the job offers for the Hyatt housekeepers will be sufficient for the Governor to back off, if not, I’m not sure what will make him happy. After the jump, the official statement from Hyatt Hotels regarding the job offer.

HYATT ASSURES NEW JOBS FOR DISPLACED BOSTON WORKERS

BOSTON (September 25, 2009) – All housekeepers affected by August staff reductions at the three Hyatt hotels in Boston will be offered new full-time positions in the Boston market. The jobs, which will be provided by an affiliate of United Service Companies, will match the employees’ previous Hyatt rate of pay through the end of 2010. The Boston Hyatt hotels will extend healthcare coverage through March 31, 2010 for the employees who choose to accept positions with United Service Companies, after which they will have the option to obtain health care benefits through their new employer.

“We are committed to supporting all of our associates, especially when they are negatively affected by business decisions made necessary by the most difficult economic environment in decades,” said Phil Stamm, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Boston and chair of a local Hyatt management task force formed to assist the displaced workers. “Every housekeeping employee who wants a job will have one. That’s our promise.”

Affected employees who wish to pursue a different employment path are being offered career services and training opportunities through a partnership Hyatt has formed with Manpower and Right Management. Employees opting to participate in the career services and retraining program will receive financial support equal to their Hyatt rate of pay through March 2010 or until they secure permanent jobs, whichever comes first. “We’re pleased to be able to support our employees with retraining and job search assistance provided by a highly respected employment and placement firm,” said Stamm.

“We are meeting with these individuals to fully explain their options, answer their questions and ease the transition,” said Michael Hickey, general manager of Hyatt Regency Cambridge, also a member of the task force. “The task force we set up accomplished what we set out to do. We believe the creative solutions we’re offering are responsive to the concerns expressed throughout our community, and are consistent with Hyatt’s core values as well as our responsibility to manage our properties prudently in this very difficult economy.”

“We sincerely hope these efforts demonstrate the respect we have for our associates and renew the community’s faith in Hyatt. Contrary to the way our actions have been characterized by many, we did attempt to implement this staffing change in a respectful manner and many of the assertions that have been made are false. We do, however, recognize and regret that we did not handle all parts of the transition in a way that reflects our organization’s values, ” said Stamm.

Hyatt’s problems increase as chain is boycotted

by Katie Hammel on

The Hyatt hotel chain is facing more trouble after firing nearly 100 housekeepers and replacing them with contract workers. Though a rep for Hyatt has denied that the fired workers were “tricked” into training their replacements and were not given severance, it seems the public isn’t buying it.

Union officials at the Boston Taxi Drivers Association have said that the 1700 drivers in the union will boycott Hyatt Boston locations, refusing to pick-up or drop-off fares there, unless the housekeepers are reinstated. The Massachusetts Governor has even gotten in on the action, saying that unless Hyatt rehires the fired workers, he’ll direct all state employees to stay at other hotels.

In a letter he sent to the CEO of Hyatt, the Governor said that while he understood that tough economic times meant making tough decisions, he thought that the manner in which the staff was let go was “so inconsistent with the expressed values of the Hyatt organization and basic fairness” that he did not think that “any other remedy other than full reinstatement” was appropriate. He also said he didn’t wish to instate a boycott but that the workers were treated so unfairly that he had no choice but to do so.

Of course, Hyatt fired back, saying “We do not understand why the Governor is putting more Massachusetts jobs at risk instead of working with us to find jobs for employees affected by the realities of these unprecedented economic challenges.” Looks like neither side will be backing down, and the only people who’ll suffer will be the workers.

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Update on the Boston Hyatt housekeeping story

by Scott Carmichael on

Yesterday, we reported on a bit of controversy brewing in Boston where Hyatt hotels had reportedly fired all their housekeeping staff after “tricking” the staff to retrain their replacements without their knowledge.

As with most stories, there are two sides to this one, and we have asked Hyatt to clarify their position.

As it turns out, the original story may not have been entirely correct. Their entire statement is posted after the jump, but the bottom line is that the story of staff being tricked was not true.

Hyatt also made it clear that the current economic climate gave them no choice. The staff were given a severance package, and Hyatt extended their health benefits until the end of 2009. In addition to this, Hyatt will invest in retraining them.

Obviously, firing staff is never a thing any company wants to do, but the travel world has been hit harder than ever this year. When the only available options are to trim your workforce, or close an entire hotel, someone obviously had to make the tough choice. I’d like to thank Hyatt for providing the other side to this story.


Statement Regarding Boston Hotel Housekeeping Staff – 9.18.09

At Hyatt, we value and respect all our associates, care about the communities in which we operate and deeply regret whenever staff reductions are necessary. The difficult decision to outsource the housekeeping function at our Boston properties was made in response to the unprecedented economic challenges those hotels are facing in the current business environment. It was not made lightly.

A precipitous drop in revenues at our Boston hotels has made major cost cutting measures necessary. The decision to outsource the housekeeping function is the most recent in a long series of efforts to control costs. We have eliminated management positions at all three hotels, reduced staff in multiple departments and made significant cuts in sales, marketing and administrative budgets.

Though the business downturn has necessitated difficult decisions for us as it has for so many other employers, Hyatt always strives to treat its employees with care and consideration. Despite what has been reported, the hotels in Boston have treated their housekeepers with fairness and dignity. Press reports suggesting that we “tricked our associates into training their replacements” are absolutely false. The transition to contract housekeeping services was not sudden and secretive. In fact, the company providing housekeeping services to our Boston Hotels – Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS) – has been working with two of the three hotels for more than three years, with Hyatt and HSS employees working side‐by‐side every day. When the properties completed the transition to all contract personnel in housekeeping on August 31 approximately half of the housekeeping staff at two of the three Boston Hyatt Hotels were HSS employees.
We are providing resources and support to assist employees who have lost their jobs as they seek new employment.

  • The housekeepers were invited to apply for open positions at the three hotels, howeverthere are very few positions available due to economic conditions. They will continue to be welcome to apply for jobs at Hyatt hotels as positions become available.
  • We worked with local hotels and provided each housekeeper with current job openings.
  • We provided them with an Employee Assistance helpline, assisted them with benefit transition paperwork.
  • We provided severance benefits.

Because we have a longstanding relationship with HSS, we’re confident that HSS personnel working according to Hyatt standards can provide Hyatt‐quality housekeeping services.
The savings realized from these arrangements contribute significantly to the financial stability of our properties, which allows us to continue to provide services to our guests and enables Hyatt properties to continue to be major employers in the Boston area.

The HSS employees serving our properties in Boston are living in the area. They are not from outside of the community. So the notion that jobs were exported to somewhere outside of Boston is inaccurate.

Contrary to published reports, HSS does offer a wide range of benefits to its employees.
Hyatt properties continue to be significant employers in Massachusetts with approximately 600 employees.

100 urban adventures for the city dweller

by Kraig Becker on

Looking for something to do today as the weekend quickly comes to a close? Then look no further than Outside Magazine’s list of 100 Urban Adventures. As you can no doubt tell, it contains some of the best activities to do in the great outdoors while remaining well within some of the largest cities in the U.S.

Outside turns its attention on such urban centers as New York, Boston, and Chicago, amongst others. Some of their suggestions for outdoor fun might come as a surprise, even to those that live there. For instance, plenty of people have probably considered paddling around Liberty Island to get a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty from inside a Kayak, but did you also know that you could go bouldering in Central Park?

There are equally interesting adventures from the other cities as well. Go sailing on Lake Michigan while in Chicago, horseback riding through the Hollywood Hills in L.A., or trout fishing a short distance from downtown Seattle. These are just a sample of some of the adventures on the list and chances are you’ll find something on it that will appeal to what ever level of activity you’re up for.

But what if you don’t live in any of these cities? My guess that no matter where you live, you’ll find similar hidden outdoor adventures right under your nose. Take a look around, and you’re likely to find all kinds of interesting things to do. But hurry, the weekend is slipping away fast.