Westin hotel to layoff employees after protests over pay cuts

by Melanie Nayer on

The Westin Hotel announced it would cut the jobs of almost 50 employees at its Providence, Rhode Island hotel. The layoffs come after several months of demonstrations at the hotel.

According to the Providence Journal, the hotel workers were notified Friday that their jobs would be farmed out to a subcontracting firm at the end of the month.

Demonstrations began in March when the 200-member hotel workers union called for a boycott of the hotel after learning that Westin management wanted to impose wage cuts, health-care cost increases and increased work loads.

The union, whose contract expired in October, says it will continue to call for a boycott.

[via The Providence Journal]

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk 006: New York City, Engadget Show, Strikes & Protests!

by Stephen Greenwood on

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk, episode 6 – Click above to watch video after the jump

Ready for the City that Never Sleeps? This week we’re hitting the streets of Manhattan for a jam-packed episode that will take you through the Big Apple, behind the scenes of the Engadget Show, and show you how to get away from it all in a city like NYC.

This week we discuss the ongoing red-shirt protests in Thailand, the long awaited British Airways strike, significant new routes from Virgin America, a bus journey from D.C to Antarctica, and how NYC’s metro matches up against one of the most modern metros in the world.

Of course, there’s more Travel Tips with Bruce! and an epic Adventure that only left one of us curled up in a bathroom…

If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

Subscribe via iTunes:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Travel Talk feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

Hosts: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special guests: Mike Barish, Joshua Topolsky, and Bruce!
Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special thanks: Chad Mumm & the Engadget Team

Music:

Camping with Mike
“Camp Walk”
Derek K Miller

Travel Tips with Bruce
“Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. XVI:49, III. Tempo di Minuet”
Mario Ajero

Engadget Show
“Le Conseil Militair pour la Justice”
Adhesion

Adventure of the Week
“New York City Heat”
Dead Heart Bloom

“Indian Funk”
Bloingo

all songs courtesy of Musicalley.com

BA flights attendants trash good wine in protest

by Katie Hammel on

According to the UK’s Telegraph, the latest casualty of the problems between British Airways’ cabin crews and the company is vintage wine. Those involved in the alcohol abuse were members of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (Bassa), which is part of the union that represents the airline’s 13,000 cabin crew. They say they destroyed the wine as a symbol of “passive resistance” against some of the new practices that British Airways has instituted.

The unhappy employees had planned on striking over the Christmas holiday, but thankfully, the strike was blocked by a judge.

Apparently, the flap all started when BA introduced some new cost cutting measures – which included firing hundreds of employees and freezing pay for current workers. As a result, the “disaffected” workers have stopped any of their own money-saving efforts onboard the airplanes. One worker was quoted in the Telegraph article as saying that “No-one is doing anything to help save costs any more. Whereas we used to keep unfinished bottles of wine in first-class to save money, now they’re routinely poured down the sink.”

Let’s hope the union and British Airways can resolve their issues soon. I hate to see good wine go to waste.%Gallery-76818%

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United Airlines adds flights to Africa, the Middle East and Europe

by Katie Hammel on

Starting May 2, 2010, United Airlines fans can fly the carrier from the US to Africa for the first time in the company’s history. United will offer flights from DC to Accra, Ghana (and then on to Lagos, Nigeria). Beginning April 18, 2010, passengers flying from DC to Kuwait can also continue on to Bahrain.

Chicago to Brussels nonstop on March 28, 2010. The carrier also added several other new routes this year, including DC to Moscow, and DC to Geneva.

“Our first-ever non-stop service to Africa will offer customers convenient and comfortable travel opportunities to visit two of the fastest-growing cities in the continent,” United’s senior VP of planning said in a press release. “In addition, our new services to Bahrain and Brussels will open more international routes to our customers throughout Europe and the Middle East.”

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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