Don't stay at a Hyatt hotel; support your local stripper

Yesterday's Boston Globe reported on how housekeepers at the corporation's three Boston hotels were tricked into training other people as housekeepers (although I'll be many of them suspected), ostensibly to fill in on vacation, but actually to become permanent (?) replacements. Many of them had worked at Hyatt for decades. Now their jobs have been outsourced and they are out of work.

Hyatt likes to ride on its reputation for being responsible partners in their respective communities. Apparently that responsibility doesn't extend to the hotel workers.

Today's Globe reports on a lawsuit by Salisbury strippers to challenge their independent contractor status, claiming they should be treated as employees. Strippers and other workers at gentlemen's clubs often have to pay to perform. Tips are supposed to compensate, but with the economic decline still in full swing--for workers, anyway-- tips just aren't cutting it.

Locally, the Springfield blog formerly titled after the Mardi Gras is now revamped and retitled The Employee Advocate, offering news and advice on the struggles of workers for fair wages and better working conditions.

Some corporations and employers are willing to take somewhat reduced profits in order to provide decent jobs for their workers. Many are not. I've never stayed at a Hyatt hotel and the only time I've been in a strip club was to pass out condoms. But we all need to be informed consumers.

Photo of the Hyatt hotel in Cambridge from Ornoth's photostream at the Flickr Commons.