Hyatt deal creates Denver's sole union hotel

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/21/hyatt-deal-creates-denvers-sole-union-hotel/

Pact an outgrowth of Dems' support of labor movement
By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mireya De La Cruz's job at the Hyatt Regency Denver has her cleaning rooms and making beds during her eight-hour shift, but the exhausting nature of her work took a significant turn this week.

Under a five-year contract that went into effect Sunday, she and 350 other employees at the downtown hotel now have a pension plan, lower health costs and other benefits, such as a reduced workload for housekeepers.

While the agreement between the convention-center hotel and the labor union Unite Here has been years in the making, it resolves a pressing dilemma: Denver now has a unionized hotel. The lack of one had been a big sticking point for Democrats who will descend on the city in August for the party's national convention.

For workers such as De La Cruz, the contract means a decrease in the number of rooms she must clean each day to 18 from as many as 25 or 30.

"It's still a lot of hard work, but my body hurts less - it's more reasonable," De La Cruz told a reporter during her lunch break Wednesday. "When you clean too many rooms, it's hard to take a break because you don't have time."

The lack of any other labor contracts at area hotels to use as a starting point helped to lengthen the negotiating process, according to John Schafer, the hotel's general manager.

FULL story at link.