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New Orleans Hospitality Workers Demand Income Replacement During Pandemic

From our comrades in the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance, their demands of the city to meet the immediate needs of workers during the COVID-19 emergency:

List of Demands

  1. Immediate expansion of unemployment insurance. Change the current eligibility to include those who stay home during this crisis, who do not have paid leave. This should extend to all gig, independent contractors, and freelance workers. 
  2. Expansion of Medicaid to all who need health care.  
  3. Expansion and an increase of food stamps to all workers and families in need.
  4. Testing, ER visits, and treatment for COVID -19 must be free for all and administered at conveniently located test centers that are geographically dispersed. Expansion of testing must be done urgently
  5. Issue an order that no workers be fired for staying home  
  6. Immediate closure of restaurants, retail shops and bars with a guarantee that when the establishment reopens workers will get their jobs back. 
  7. Those who choose to keep working at essential places like pharmacys, hospitals and supermarkets should be given full protective gear. 
  8. Order a state-wide halt to evictions, foreclosures, water, electric and internet cut offs. (Including student loan payments and credit card debt.)
  9. People without homes should be provided shelter and utilities necessary to protect themselves from both contracting and spreading COVID-19. (We have enough houses to shelter every person in the city, and we demand that anybody in need of housing is granted access to one of our numerous uninhabited units.)
  10. Establish a system for no cost food  and other necessities distribution to quarantined people or areas and to sick or self-isolated households
  11. Price controls put into effect to shield workers from the disruptive effects the virus has on the global economy.
  12. Establish easily accessible centers to replace breakfast and lunch for all students. (Currently New Orleans has only set up one school each on the East and West banks. Closing the schools without many food centers will create massive hunger for Louisiana’s children.)
  13. Waive citizenship requirements for state and local benefits  to ensure all workers have the option to stay home and effectively contain the virus.
  14. Immediate release of migrants in detention camps and incarcerated people not convicted of violent crimes. (These sites are overcrowded with limited access to healthcare. This will improve containment of the virus and cannot be ignored. Provide remaining prisoners with free phone calls as visits are being stopped and deposit money in their commissary accounts especially as prisoners must buy their soap, etc.)
  15. Guarantee replacement income for all (on top of the expansion of unemployment)

The eyes of all workers in Louisiana, who are very aware of the huge inequality between legislators and government official’s income and health coverage, are on the actions of the government.  This is the time to suspend state and local corporate tax exemptions to provide resources for these measures. Suspend the city charter which gives $180 million dollars in tourist taxes to private companies, suspend the $300 million dollars in public funds that is being used for a private convention center hotel and the millions being used for the super dome renovation. 

These public funds MUST be redirected towards this crisis immediately!

We hope you will carry out the responsibilities to the people of our state and work expeditiously to enact these necessary measures.

Sincerely, 

The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance

504.444.9096

www.NOHWA.org

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Stop Caging Workers!

Photo: Christina Tareq

On Friday, September 27, dozens of hospitality workers and supporters gathered in Congo Square for a Workers Unity Rally called by the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance. Organizers stressed the urgent need for workers to resist police and ICE terror in the workplace. Speakers included Eugene Grant of the Slow Rollas Brass Band who spoke on behalf of street musicians who have been targeted for harassment by the police who take their orders from gentrifiers and real estate developers. From Congo Square demonstrators marched through the French Quarter, calling on their fellow workers to come together to fend off cops and ICE agents who are attacking workers on behalf of greedy, racist bosses. Demonstrators chanted “Lift the wages, no more cages!” Grant summed up the attitude of the marching workers best, chanting “We gotta fight to get it!”

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Women Hospitality Workers Declare: “We’re Fed Up and We’re Organizing for Ourselves & Our Families. Return $180 Million in Tourist Tax Dollars to the People!”

The Hospitality Workers Alliance (HWA) and Peoples’ Assembly have issued the following call to Action:

Honor Women Hospitality Workers Saturday March 16, International Working Women’s Day

Billions of dollars flow into New Orleans which has been designated a number one tourist spot. This is due to the hard work of restaurant, hotel, retail and other workers. It is our labor that brings in $180 million a year in tourist tax revenues that go directly to Private Commissions and Corporations, not the city budget. This is free money to boost profits.

$180 million in Tax Revenues belong to the people

When you add in tax exemptions for real estate developers, private universities, and other corporations, the working class of our city is being defrauded and our tax revenues stolen. Yet our wages are low, our jobs are insecure and we lack benefits. The conditions of hospitality workers affect all working-class communities and our families’ lives.

We protested at the Tourist Commission asking that money be used for health care clinic or insurance for hospitality workers. At the Convention Center we protested the further rip-off to build a hotel that will not pay taxes but will produce private profit and get public funds.

We take note that Mayor Cantrell has finally asked the Convention Center for a mere $7 million for infrastructure, and even this is being rebuffed. We Demand:

  1. The $180 million a year in stolen taxes go to:
  2. $50 million for sick, maternity leave, vacation pay and pension funds for hospitality workers
  3. $50 million for health coverage for all hospitality workers
  4. $40 million for fully funded, free, accessible child care centers
  5. $20 million be used for infrastructure like fixing streets
  6. $20 million to fully fund all early child hood education

We are inviting all organizations, social clubs, unions, and faith-based institutions to join us that day. We cannot depend on the politicians in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. We must mobilize a movement to demand our rights.

All workers, women and men, can get involved.

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Convention Center Hides Amount of Public Money It Will Use to Build a Private Hotel

By Gavrielle Gemma

Once again, big capitalists are trying to grab public money to make private profits. The Convention Center already receives $63 million in stolen tax dollars from hotel taxes that should go to the city general fund. Their recent scheme should land them all in jail. They want to take $340 million in public funds to build a private Omni Hotel, and pay no taxes on sales or real estate. But they will keep the profits!

As if it’s not bad enough, these unelected vulture capitalists presented a “consultant’s” report that deliberately attempts to mislead us. The Bureau of Governmental Research (a business group itself) revealed that there is a $100 million gap between their analysis and the Convention Center. BGR estimates they will use $330 million in public funds.

BGR goes on with a list of other misrepresentations and false assumptions. The Convention Center also claims this will add jobs. But BGR estimates this project will take 130,000 guests from existing hotels. What will happen to those workers?

Clearly we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in what will be one gigantic financial scandal and rip-off. Who is getting paid off in all this? The big capitalists. Who will lose? The workers and residents of New Orleans.

A few elected officials have raised what amounts to a squeak in protest. But if one looks at their campaign contributions, the link between them and the Convention Center is obvious. Campaign contributions are bribes in reality. At a recent Board meeting, the Peoples’ Assembly, New Orleans Workers Group and the Hospitality Workers Committee organized to fight this theft.

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May Day NOLA 2018

On May 1, International Workers Day, over 250 protestors from various working class organizations marched on City Hall to call for the end of police harassments, racial profiling, and ICE raids. The people representing these organizations are immigrants and workers demanding that the city of New Orleans improve their working conditions in the hospitality industry, and better pay. They also demanded that the city pass the Workweek Ordinance, written by the Hospitality Workers Committee. The spirit of May Day is used to build unity among working class and oppressed communities in New Orleans.

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Hospitality Workers Committee Fights for Medical Coverage – Wins!

By Margaret Maloney

On May 15th, The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee shook up the Tourism & Marketing Board Corporation meeting. The Tourism & Marketing Board Corporation is an unelected board that gets over 140 million dollars of the tax payers money to play with. This money completely bypasses the general budget without the people’s consent. Several members of The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee gave statements demanding that
the Tourism Corporation return the people’s money by building a FREE FULL-SERVICE medical clinic for hospitality workers & paying ALL Laura’s medical bills. Laura, a career Hospitality worker, is critically ill  because of a lack of insurance. The committee demanded that the Tourism  Corporation give them an answer to their demands in ten days.

The NOHWC then opened a banner and chanted “Tax money for Worker’s needs, Not Tax Money For Corporate Greed!”. And “We are the Ones Who Make Your Profit, We are Dying When You Can Stop It”.

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Local Workers Strike Back Against Sexual Harassment

On February 23, 2018, the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee (NOHWC) held a March to End Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace. Starting at Congo Square, the NOHWC along with 50 workers marched down Decatur, taking over the street all the way to Bamboula’s. This action was organized on behalf of a committee member who used to work at Bamboula’s, where a manager sexually assaulted her on several occasions. When she confided in her General Manager about the continued harassment, no action was taken and the harasser was allowed to remain employed at Bamboula’s.

NOHWC marched on the establishment. At Bamboula’s, committee members went inside to deliver a set of demands that will be continuously delivered until they are met. Bamboula’s responded to the action by closing their own door. Almost all guests left the bar. However, management did not accept the demands.

This is only the beginning of a campaign to end sexual harassment and racism in all New Orleans workplaces. Please keep in touch with NOHWC and upcoming actions either on Facebook at NOHWC or online at www.nowhc.org. United and organized, the 88,000+ hospitality workers of this city have the power to demand our rights.

Here are our Demands:

  1. Bamboula’s will no longer foster a culture of sexist or racist harassment.
  2. Terminate the manager, Jim, in a timely fashion for the sexual assault of workers.
  3. Terminate the General Manager, Jen, in a timely fashion for supporting sexual harassment in the workplace.
  4. Post the Rules and Regulations provided by NOHWC where customers and employees can easily read.

As the march went through the Quarter, many workers came out of their workplaces to applaud, raise a fist of solidarity, and show support for their fellow workers.

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Worker Correspondence

By M.M.

I am a hospitality worker, one of over 88,000 in New Orleans, the seventh most popular tourist destination in the world. The New Orleans economy relies overwhelmingly on restaurants and hotels. Hospitality workers generate $7 billion a year, yet we don’t receive a living wage, we receive no sick pay, no vacations, no affordable childcare, no maternity leave, no job security, no pensions, and no protection for immigrant workers. Many of us can’t afford the rising rents. We wait hours for buses, and if we do have a car there’s no safe, free or affordable parking. We are subject to unpredictable scheduling and hours. And we receive no protection from racism, sexual harassment, or other forms of discrimination.

My last job was at a crawfish and catering restaurant in mid city. When I was hired, I was particularly excited because the owner said they would train me as a cook. Escaping the customers and the sexual harassment that often comes with them sounded great. Unfortunately, sexual harassment is just as common in the back of house. Workers are expected to brush off sexual harassment; owners, management, and male co-workers alike claim that’s just the way restaurant kitchens are. Despite this normalization when a co-worker touched me inappropriately several times during my time working there, I slapped him and kicked him out of the kitchen. We deserve better protection from sexual harassment in our work environments.

I would start sweating the moment I entered the kitchen, which reached temperatures as high as 110 degrees. The kitchen staff was expected to cook for everyone in the restaurant, while also preparing pans of jambalaya, red beans, and other local cuisine for catering orders. The owners would often tell us to prepare dishes that were not on the menu for catering events, throwing kitchen workers into a frenzy to prepare unknown recipes, while also in the middle of a dinner rush.

The owners claimed kitchen staff would get tipped out for preparing catering dishes, but we rarely saw those tips. They hired part-time or occasional workers to send on catering jobs; these employees made $10 an hour plus tips. I asked for full time catering work; however, the owners claimed they needed me to stay in the kitchen. They promised I’d get a raise if I stayed. Two weeks later, everyone in the kitchen including me got a pay decrease to $6 an hour. After the pay decrease, our workload grew; they added more and more catering jobs overwhelming the kitchen staff during our busy crawfish season in the restaurant. This kind of exploitative labor must be eradicated. That’s why I joined the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee! We are working to unite all hospitality workers and fight for our rights. Give your support and join the fight!