AHPR:This is UNITE HERE Local 878. Who does this union local represent? What kinds of people?
 
Anna: Hotel and restaurant.
 
Jessica: And some laundry. And some airport food service.
 
AHPR: And this is all in Anchorage, or does it go beyond Anchorage?
 
Jessica: It goes beyond.
 
AHPR:So, other towns and locations in Alaska?
 
Multiple responders: Yes. Yes. Yes.
 
AHPR: Here in Anchorage, what are some of the hotels you represent, for example?
 
Vicki: The Captain Cook, the Clarion, Hilton Hotel, which is my area, and then the Sheraton. And then you have the Westmark.
 
AHPR: Any restaurants?
 
Troy: The Hawthorne Suites is union.
 
Jessica: The Howard Johnson and a couple of restaurants: Club Paris and the Corsair.
 
AHPR: I understand you are involved in a current boycott of the Hilton and Sheraton hotels in Anchorage. I assume what a boycott means is that those of you who are employed in those two places are still working there, but what you are trying to do is get potential clients and customers to not go there.
 
Troy: That's correct.
 
AHPR: Why would you do that?
 
Vicki: To financially bankrupt the hotel. That is the only message that we can give them so that way they can sit with us and work with our contract.
 
AHPR: What are the issues that you are struggling over?
 
Vicki: Well, with the Hilton, I think the same thing with the Sheraton, it is about our health care, the job classification, the seniority ...
 
Troy and Vicki: The workloads.
 
Vicki: Those are the most important things that we are fighting for.
 
Jessica: And when she is talking about defined job classifications, why that is so important is the hotels are trying to combine two or three classifications into one, which increases the workload also for other departments, not just housekeeping.
 

AHPR: Is health insurance an issue here, when you said "health care issues," is your health insurance plan one of the issues?
 
Troy: Yes, that's the most important thing that we are fighting for.
 
AHPR: And what are the issues there? For example, do you have to pay more? Is the coverage worse?  What are the issues?
 
Vicki: We have to pay more on the health care. It used to be that we don't have to pay anything on the health care. It was just the Hilton and the union are the ones paying for it. We don't have anything to do with it? We don't have to pay the premium money. But now the company wants us to pay on our own, without the union. So, it is just between us and the company, and we cannot afford that. Because we don't make that much money at all.
 
AHPR: If I can ask you, what kind of salaries or wages are you making? 

Vicki: It's like, for the room attendants, twelve-something an hour.
 
Interviewee: $12.34.

Interviewee: $12.01
 
AHPR: So it's around 12 bucks. And how much do they want you to pay for health insurance, do you recall?
 
Vicki: I think from us at the Hilton, it's a round $800.
 
AHPR: So, from nothing to $800 month?
 
Vicki: Yes.
 
AHPR: Wow! That's a big hit for somebody who earns 12 bucks an hour.
 
Vicki: It is. Because, you know, with that amount, we cannot afford it.

Anna: We won't be able to afford it.

Vicki: We are just going to work for the health insurance, you know.
 
Jessica: And that's mostly for the full-family health care. Most people at the hotels have families that they need to support on the health care. So, while it might be affordable for single people, where it's like $120 or something -- don't necessarily quote me on that amount, but around that amount -- when it jumps to having another dependent, or more than one dependent ... It's just, the reason why they don't know the exact amounts is it's so huge! Why even think about it, because it's so big. And the deductible is also higher.
 
AHPR: Oh, that's important.
 
Jessica: Especially at the Sheraton, the employer's plan is almost double. The rate of coverage isn't as good also.
 
AHPR: Is there a health trust, or is it just individual plans? How does that work?
 
Jessica: That's what Vicki was saying is, the union health care plan is what both the Sheraton and the Hilton are covered under right now.
 
AHPR: And hotel management wants to get out from contributing to the cost of coverage with the union trust?
 
Jessica: That's right. In my opinion I think the reason why they want to get away from it, is because they know people aren't going to actually [be able to] pay for this other health care plan, so it's going to cost them a lot less.
 
AHPR: I want to read you just a few sentences from a study that was reported at the last meeting, the 2009 meeting of the American Public Health Association. The name of the study is, "Occupational health disparities in the U.S. hotel industry." And I am just going to quote a couple of sentences from the summary. And actually some health and safety people from your national union were involved in this, and then a number of universities and other parties were involved in the study.

You may very well be familiar with it, but it says, "Hotel employees have relatively higher rates of occupational injury, and sustain more severe injuries than most other service workers. The overall injury rate was 5.2 injuries per 100 workers, per year. Housekeepers had 7.9 injuries per 100 housekeepers, per year. Housekeepers also had the highest rate of musculoskeletal disorders, at 3.2 per 100 workers, per year." So it sounds to me like, according to this study, that there's fairly high rates of injuries from housekeepers doing the kind of work that they do. Does this sound like your reality?
 
Multiple responders: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it is.

 
AHPR: So, speaking one at a time, could you talk about what the issues are, and how you or others you know may have been affected by them?
 
Elda: Well, like what she is saying is that they increase the job, so we have to do more work with our hours. We are not able to take our breaks, because we just running, running, to try to finish our work, and that leads to injure yourself. It happened to me three weeks ago. I was running, I smashed my fingers trying to close the closet. I smashed three fingers because of that. I noticed since that they increased my work, I really start to feel pain in my wrist. You can tell right there [pointing to side of her wrist]. Because it is like running and trying to doing this quickly, you know? Somehow, my body start to see the difference because too much work. Also, it is affecting -- I'm going to talk about it -- it is affecting my mental [state] because I am so stressed. By the time I get off from work, I am so upset, because I am running. I don't feel safe anymore, you know what I mean? Sometimes people are screaming at you in the morning. It's like a hurting, it's like a mental [stress], too, you know? By the time you get off from the work, you are so [stressed out] you shout out to all the people who have nothing to do with that, you know that? It is so tense, because sometimes my neck is like this [grimacing and tightening neck muscles], you know? So it is affecting [you] because you bump your elbows and you bump your knees. Sometimes you [are] running, you are stripping [the linen off the bed], you can easily hurt yourself [badly].
 
Jessica: Elda, you're not new at this. How long have you been doing this?
 
Elda: Working housekeeping? 25 years! But this is worst since last year [when] they increased our workload. [Now] it is so stressful. Everything changed in there.
 
AHPR: And how did they increase it? From what to what?
 
Elda: From 15 to 17 rooms.
 
AHPR: Per what, per eight hours?
 
Elda: Per eight hours. And then, you cannot even have your lunch in peace -- you know what I mean? Because you have to clock out, to go out and take 30 minutes, and then you're clocking in, and then you're eating, and then look, you know? The time! So, by the time you get there, your food is right here, stuff it [in your mouth] right here, because you cannot even have your meal in peace. You know what I mean? It's affecting the physical and mental [states]. That's what I mean to say, because it changed a lot.

AHPR: Is it that you are under so much stress that you have a hard time eating, or is it that a half hour is not enough? Or maybe it's both?
 
Elda: Both, I think. Because it is stress, and then it's just stress, you know. When you eat, you want to just take your time to eat without looking to the watch, [but now] you need to finish quickly because you need to clock out. You cannot miss one minute because, [then someone] is messing around with your check, [and they] don't want to give some money, you know what I mean? Somehow, it's messed up, the whole thing, if you miss one minute, or if you go over two minutes more, you know? Your check doesn't come at the end of the two weeks.
 
Jessica: This is something new for the Sheraton. At the Hilton, they are not dealing with this yet. They are taking away the lunch period, which [had been] paid for. What people would do, is they would go and have lunch, and while they are eating, if something needed to be done, then they would get up and go do it because they were getting paid. Now, they are now not getting paid for that half hour; however, people are still getting called to go do these different things, right? And, so then people are also just not clocking out anymore, and they are using their two10-minute breaks for a 20-minute lunch, where they are not really even doing 20 minutes -- that kind of thing.

 
AHPR: So, does that mean that they are not then taking the breaks?
 
Multiple responders: No! No breaks. Not taking breaks. No time for a break.
 
AHPR: Do you want to talk about your situation, Blanca?
 
Blanca: Okay. It's same situation for the Hilton, only no punch. We go to go to the lunch, but to the ladies at the Hilton -- because I worked at the Hilton, and she works at the Sheraton, it is the same. Right now, at the Hilton, a lot of people are having accidents. Me, I have one accident last year, in June 2009, and I no working for six month. And right now a lot of people in same [situation. They had an] accident, [they are not] working, and the company, no cooperation with the people. They are liking the people working, working -- that's it. [Management thinks] "And I don't care if the people feel good or not good, the people over there, I don't care." And sometime, you no have nothing for eat, and the money, anything for eat, and those ladies no have a chance. In the Hilton right now, all the people no have a chance for break, no have a chance for their lunch, because the Hilton changed the floors in the bathroom. That's why they have accidents, [because of] more cleaning to the bathroom, because it is a big floor covered with carpet. And right now they have more extended floor. This is the problem right now. And all the people, a lot of frustration, and [all the] time the manager watch the people, what they do.
 
Jessica: Blanca, do you want to talk about [how] this new floor is just indicative of all the different kinds of amenities that they put into these rooms, and then they don't change the workload requirements. So, it's more workload, but they don't account for that in their quotas. And so, when they put in this [larger] floor, that meant that they had to get down and scrub a lot more, so do you want to tell them exactly what happened?
 
Blanca: Yeah. I working for 15 years at the hotel, and never have a accident. Only last year, when change to the floor. And when we cleaning the room -- because [the workload is now] 17 rooms -- I need to hurry up, hurry up, and I slipped on the floor and my knee broken.
 
Jessica: She fell on her knee.
 
Blanca: On the knee. And right now I use the cane, and the doctor say, right now I can't go back to the room. I can't.
 
AHPR: So, you still can't do your job?
 
Blanca: Yes.
 
AHPR: Elda, you work where?
 
Elda: At the Sheraton Hotel.
 
AHPR: At the Sheraton, okay. Has there been the same workload change as at the Hilton, where they went from 15 to 17, I believe?
 
Blanca: Right, right, but at the Sheraton, I don't know when it start. At the Hilton, it was last year. And the problem is change [from 15 to] 17 rooms, and change the floor. So, it's [a bigger] floor.
 
AHPR: Even though the bathrooms are larger and there are more rooms to clean, that is all supposed to be done in the same number of hours?
 
Blanca: Right.
 
AHPR: Yes, Anna?
 
Anna: What she means is the rooms are bigger, so increase the workload -- not only in the [number of] rooms, but inside the room -- because more amenities, and because they rebuild the floor, it is more dangerous for them because it is bigger [and there is] more work.
 
Blanca: Yes, and the Hilton change everything. Before, the Hilton is only a small room -- it's two pillows. Now two beds, it's eight pillows, and one bed, it's five pillows. And [they changed] the coffee pot, change everything, everything. So, you need more, bring everything, [more of] everything to the room. And sometime, I not have the linen in the closet, [so] you need to come down to laundry, [with a] plastic bag, bring it [from] the laundry up -- coffee, paper toilet tissues, everything. This is the problem to the Hilton.
 
Elda: Similar to the hotel [where I work]. Before the new company get in and buy this hotel, we used to have all the supplies in the main closet, but now my boss wants us to bring the washcloths, coffee, soaps, the shampoo, the conditioner, the towels you need to clean the racks. He want us to bring everything, everything.
 
AHPR: So in other words, the room on the floor, the supply room on the floor, is not stocked?
 
Vicki: Right.

 
AHPR: So in the past, was there somebody else who stocked it?
 
Vicki: Yes, right. We used to have houseman for every floor, that delivered all the stuff that they needed on the floor. We used to have four. Two for each floor, because in the Hilton Hotel there are 600 rooms. When we were busy, we used to have four housemen, two for each tower. So that way they just concentrate on their rooms. But not anymore. With the new company, they just only had one houseman. So, the workload is so heavy for the houseman, that some of these room attendants, they can't wait, they go down and get the stuff they needed.
 
Blanca: Example -- my floor is 12th floor. When we don't have nothing, I go to the basement, go to the laundry, bring everything, and go again to the 12th floor. I no have the time [to] finish 17 rooms. That is the problem. And the supervisor and the manager, [they say] "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up." A lot of stress.
 
Jessica: Do you guys want to describe how before, also, you had somebody sitting down in the office  who could answer the phones?
 
Vicki: Oh, yes. I used to do that before with the Hilton Corporation. Before, I just used to stay in the Housekeeping Department and take every call [from] these people that are calling if they need something. But the new company cut down. They cut down my hours from eight hours to four, to six, four, two and three. Because they don't want me to be down there to help these people with whatever they needed.
 
AHPR: And how did you help them in what you were doing?
 
Vicki: I used to call the houseman, you know to deliver the stuff that they needed, rather than they go down to bring it themselves, because they are fully loaded with 17 rooms.
 
AHPR: You said something like you went from so many hours to fewer hours. What did you say again?
 
Vicki: They cut down my hours.
 
Jessica: Before implementation, what was that?
 
Vicki: It was eight hours.
 
Jessica: And then what is it now?
 
Vicki: Now, it's three hours. And I have been there for 23 years.
 
Blanca: Because before, when she was there, when I need something -- coffee or linen [for] example -- I call her, and she calls somebody, and somebody bring everything. Right now, you call and nobody answers the phone. That's why you need go down and bring everything.
 
Anna: Similar at the Sheraton.
 
Jessica: Actually, the Sheraton is even more interesting because they've cut down the supervisors, right? Do you want to talk about that?
 
Anna: Yeah. We used to be three supervisors in summertime. Wintertime, we have two. Now it is only one. And one have to sign coming at six o'clock, open the house, assign all the paperwork to the [housekeepers]. Like example, Friday I had 18 ladies, and I have to work by myself.
 
AHPR: Are you a supervisor there?
 
Anna: Yes, sir. So I have to run from the 15th floor to the third floor. Sometime I have to do it by the stairs because the elevator too slow. If I wait for the elevator, I won't finish my job. So when the lady called down to the office, "I need a shower curtain," "I need coffee," I am not there to answer the phone. So, it is a waste of time. And on top of that, they have to finish their room.

 
AHPR: Explain to me something. Was this increase in the room numbers done in the middle of a contract? I don't understand how that was done.
 
Anna: At the Sheraton, they passed the contract, and they implemented that on September of last year.
 
Vicki: Same thing with the Hilton. That's what they did, too.
 
Anna: [In practice], they did their own contract and they put their own law. "This is what you guys are going to do." That is why we have this thing. "We want this. This is what you are going to do. End that story. How you do it, we don't care. You have to do 17 rooms, no matter what."
 
Jessica: So the Sheraton, we were in the middle of contract negotiations. We started in June, and we barely had six negotiations sessions. By the last one, all of a sudden in the mail we get word that they think we are at impasse, which is just a legal term for "neither side will give." But we hadn't even agreed on a majority of the contract, even the small stuff like language issues. There is a certain National Labor Relations law that says if you reach legal impasse, the employer has the right to impose their final offer. Their final offer was 17 rooms. So, that's what they've done. We filed a charge with the National Labor Relations board saying that we do not believe we are at an impasse. Currently that is being investigated, but in the meantime the hotel gets to get away with doing this kind of thing. We think it's because they're hoping that people will just give up eventually because they are in such a stressful situation, and tired, and bodies hurting -- that they just want to try and weaken them to just take a bad contract. So, go ahead Anna.
 
Anna: And it's not only in the housekeeping area. She worked in the public area, and they used to be ...
 
AHPR: Okay, you are pointing to somebody else in the room who is not at the table, and what does she do? Does she work in the public area?
 
Anna: Yes. She is a bathroom attendant. And before, [there was a man for the men's bathroom, and a woman for the women's bathroom, but] now she have to do man and woman. Sometimes she have accident because a guy go running into her, and she have to run out of the bathroom. She is [in] the same situation that we are [in] now.
 
Jessica: She is a porter, which is basically the term that Sheraton uses for "janitor." She cleans all of the public bathrooms throughout the hotel. There are how many again?
 
Anna: She cleans bathrooms and meeting rooms.
 
AHPR: Just one person does all that in the hotel?
 
Anna: Only one person, sir, in eight hour shift.
 
Jessica: The next eight hours, somebody else, and then the next...
 
Anna: Then with the boss on the back of her back, "Hurry up, hurry up!" Man, you have to hurry up! Hurry up! When you have a boss on top of your back saying that, you get stressed.
 
Elda: Easy you can get hurt. Somebody pushing you especially, you know what I mean? Pushing you to do your job, like intimidate you, you know, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!" You run, so you are not even thinking. You have to listen to the guy, that person pushing you. So it is easy for us to get hurt, because they don't give us the safety environment. That's what I think.
 
Anna: It's not only getting us stressful, it's getting us upset.
 
Elda: That's what I mean, mental!
 
Anna: Sometimes you want to [makes a gesture implying leaving] the job.
 
Elda: Some guy already walk off from [the job]. He didn't take it, he just walked off. He said, "Here is your job," and he get off.
 
Jessica: And why is it that you guys haven't left? Because it is really stressful.
 
Blanca: A lot of people at the Hilton quit because a lot are tired when go home. [There is] nothing [they] can do. Not cook for the children, nothing, [just go] to sleep. That's why people quit. A lot of people over there, because a lot tired.
 
Anna: I haven't quit because after 24 years of working, I am not going to let them go that easy. I am going to fight for what I have.
 
Elda: Neither do I. I've been 20 years, and I don't want to give up, you know? Because how they just come and implement all [their] own rules, without care about our safety, you know? That's the main thing, every employer has to first give the employees safe environment, you know? But they no giving us this in the hotel.
 
AHPR: I think in at least one case, the ownership of the hotel changed. Is that what is causing these problems?
 
Multiple responders: Both of them.

 
AHPR: Is it the same owner for both of them?
 
Vicki: No, different. Two different ones. Hilton is owned by Columbia Sussex. Used to be by Hilton Corporation. They sold the hotel to Columbia Sussex, which is based in Kentucky. And you know, they are not really good to employees.
 
Jessica: They are not even good to their management.
 
Vicki: That's right. How much more with us. We have lots of new employees who have been there like a week, or a month -- they quit because of the workload. They can't handle it, you know. They said that they're back is hurting, their arms. I have 20 years employee who quit. She said, "I can't handle the job anymore." You know, because of the workload. "If it's 15 rooms, I'll stay over, but 17 rooms, I can't really handle it."
 
Blanca: [Before] Columbia Sussex, I was training the [housekeepers]. Last year, Columbia Sussex bring [their own] people from California to here, and their people training [our housekeepers]. Right, because maybe Columbia Sussex [worried that], "Oh, Blanca told the [housekeepers] no do 17 rooms, right?" Columbia Sussex from California trained a lot of people, but only [one stayed employed] in the hotel.
 
Vicki: Just one, out of all those people that they trained. See, they brought trainings, their managers, from San Diego and from their home base, Missouri. And then, all of those people that they trained, they hired from here. So they were the trainees. Out of those people, there was only one that was left because they can't handle the job. It's really hard.
 
Jessica: So what they are talking about is, it just so happens that the people that are in the union leadership at the Hilton Hotel, are all the people who do the training. So, when they implemented the contract at the Hilton, which was in April of 2009, they needed to hire people because the summer is a busier time. They all of a sudden brought up other people. Our folks weren't good enough to be the trainers anymore. So, then they trained all these people, but what they are saying is, only one person ended up sticking around out of how many people? It was like 20-something people who were getting trained. They just couldn't handle the 17 rooms, so they would leave.
 
AHPR: So this was at the time of transition between the old and new owners?
 
Blanca: Yes, because before when we [were] training the people, [they] give me only eight rooms for two or three [trainees]. And when the [new owners] come in, give me 17 rooms. And every [trainee had to] do 17 rooms.
 
Jessica: And they can't handle it.

 
AHPR: And these are the new trainees?
 
Vicki: Yes, and they were bombarded with 17 rooms instead of like, you know, you train with your trainer. I just gave you only eight rooms to start with. Then, after a month, you are by yourself. I just give you four to start with. And then it increases like six, eight, until  you are ready to take that 15, 17 rooms. But with the new company, no, they give you 17 rooms right away.
 
Jessica: So their company, Columbia Sussex, we feel they care more about quantity than quality. We've seen that in the guest satisfaction scores and stuff. Since the increase and everything, people aren't as happy, and because the housekeepers aren't as happy, then that affects the mood when they are talking to guests, and so on, and so on.
 
Blanca: [Hotel guests don't see the owner here], but here are the people that work at the hotel. We are there for so many years because, yeah, we love the hotel. We love what we do, but they don't care about that, they just care money. You know? They don't care the effort that we do, if we are there to do those services that we do with happiness, so that the guests come back. They don't care about none of that.
 
Elda: They don't get it. They don't respect us as a people. That's another thing that came and got me, you know? I just got called by my boss in housekeeping "a pushy person." You believe that? In front of my coworkers? So, for last week, I was under dire stress because I cannot believe it, you know, because I was asking them to give me all of the supplies I need for do my work.
 
Jessica: And so your guys' company, who owns it again?
 
Anna: Remington Corporation.
 
Jessica: So Remington is the operator, and then the owner is Ashford Hospitality.
 
AHPR: Of which hotel?
 
Jessica: Of the Sheraton. It is owned by Ashford, and operated by Remington, and they are based out of Dallas.
 
AHPR: So that is a recent change?
 
Anna: 2007. They bought the hotel in 2007, but a lot of things have changed since that time. They came to Alaska, and they bring their own mind from down there, thinking that they are going to push it at us here, but we are going to fight here. We are not going to let them go!

AHPR: It sounds like when you try to complain about the workload or something, that maybe you are not being heard, or they are ignoring you, or something else?
 
Blanca: They don't care.
 
Vicki: They heard it, you know, but they don't care. All they care is about the money that's  coming to the company.
 
Jessica: Do you guys want to tell him what they said to you guys when they first were implementing the rooms?
 
Vicki: Yeah. They told all these room attendants -- we used to have a standard meeting every morning -- the manager told them, it's either they do 17 rooms, or they can leave. You know? Or, if they don't do 17 rooms, they get fired. So these people, they really try hard. They don't take their break, even 20-minutes lunch break. They take only 20 so that way they have plenty of time to finish the 17 rooms.
 
Jessica: And then when that didn't work, when people wanted to make sure that it was still a quality job, and that they were coming down with rooms not done, what did she say, like on day three or something?
 
Vicki: That they can come down, clock out, and go back.
 
AHPR: Ooh, that's illegal in Alaska.
 
Vicki: Yes, yes. And a lot of them do that too. They did, because they were so afraid to lose their job.
 
Blanca: Last month, [a particular housekeeper] working for 19 years over there, and she's quit last month because she can't finish 17 room in eight hour, and she clocks out and go again. And she goes to the hotel, over there at -- I don't know what time she go -- at six o'clock or seven o'clock.
 
Elda: Working for free after hours? Oh, shoot.
 
Blanca: And so she's quit.

Jessica: And we have mentioned this at a press event when we were launching the boycott at the Hilton, and it was mentioned on TV. They quickly changed that and let the women know that's not okay, but then they threatened them [because] they said, "You know we have a stack of applications this big." What are people going to do?
 
Blanca: We need the job. I mother single. I need a job. I need money for pay rent, for food, for everything. I need stay there.
 
Anna: That is what a human resource lady told us, especially one of the ladies that I know. If she don't finish those 17 rooms, she would hire somebody else to do it. So they threatening us, and that add stress, too.
 
AHPR: Are there people who you know, some of your coworkers, who may be afraid to talk about their health issues?
 
Multiple responders: Yes, yes, yes.
 
Elda: There is one person that I know too, that she is ready for two weeks of paying her, and I hear, but I don't think so, she wants to talk because she is afraid.
 
AHPR: That what, she would be fired, or what would happen?
 
Anna: She told me that since she came to Alaska, that is her job. And she don't know how to look for a job in other way. She don't know how to do anything else. If she got fired, she has a house to pay, she got a car to pay, and all of her bills, plus a medical problem. So, how is she going to handle it if she got fired because of that? So she is very afraid. And yes, she is waiting here because her elbow pain.
 
Elda: For two weeks, she is having pain in her back, due to the stress she got in the job, I think it's gotta be.
 
Anna: And she'd go to the emergency room because of the pain in her bladder, or whatever, so she is feeling the stress.
 
Blanca: You know what? The people are using a lot of medicine. Ben Gay, a lot, a lot. Me, right now I have a big bag for medicine, because when I finish the work, I go home, go shower hot water, and drink medicine.


AHPR: I wanted to just quote you, this is another study, done by the University of California at San Francisco. And they found that, they looked at 941 Las Vegas housekeepers. They said that 83 percent report taking pain medication for discomfort due to work, and 62 percent reported work-related pain that forced them to visit a doctor. Seems to be pretty high rates.
 
Interviewee: Yes, it is true.
 
Interviewee: Yes.
 
Jessica: If you just ask any of the women to look in their purse or bag that they bring, you are going to see tons of bottles of medications. That is the other thing that is so egregious about this situation. They propose more work, and they want to take away the health care plans. They go hand-in-hand, so we can't let either of those go.
 
Anna: The Sheraton, they haven't been able to give us a package, and they are promising us in September for the health packages? But I guess the first was for a single person. It is over 100 and something dollar, but they haven't been able to find insurance or present us a package, a decent package. They not going to find it because health care is very expensive, and especially here in Alaska. I am a cancer survivor. I know how much money is spent when you have especially that kind of situation. I went to chemotherapy, to radiation therapy, and you know how much money is that? When I finished my treatment, I have to get a second job in order to pay what my part of that I have to pay. So I know, for a fact, how medical things is.
 
AHPR: So you even had health insurance, and you still had to take a second job to pay the copayments?
 
Anna: To pay, yes.
 
Jessica: And a lot of the women do have second jobs, right?
 
Multiple responders: Yes, yes.
 
Anna: A lot of people are getting health problems, especially at the Sheraton. I don't know, I can count with my hand, and I need more fingers to count how many ladies, some of them are passing away and some of them, we are still battling with cancer.
 
AHPR: You are still battling cancer, you said?
 
Anna: Yes. You know, and the coworkers.
 
Jessica: Vicki and I sat down the other day with a couple of the room attendants, and went over how many people are no longer doing the job at the Hilton because it went from 15 to 17 [rooms]. Like the reason they quit, or couldn't do the work anymore, because they got injured, from 15 to 17 [rooms]. And so, just in a short bit, we came up with 23 names. Twenty-three names of people that couldn't do the job anymore. And those are just the ones that we can think of. So, there is more injuries that have happened at the Hilton, but that's because it started in April. At the Sheraton, we can't even imagine what that's going to be like. They implemented in October, so it hasn't been as long, but already, all of a sudden, people are having the arm braces, and are having the patches, and the extra medications, and all that stuff.
 
Elda: And one cut her finger. What happened?
 
Anna: She suffers from diabetes, and healing the wound is difficult. So the doctor gave them a note that she can do only 10 rooms, so they call her, and then the doctor say, "Okay you do 13 room." They leave her at the house because they say, "No, it has to be 17 room or nothing." So they sent her home. She was in the house for a couple of weeks, because they want those 17 rooms done. Even when the doctor's order was 13 rooms. So they not willing to help us in any way.
 
Jessica: One of the big reasons why the women push through this pain is because there isn't light duty available. That's what happened to [our co-worker], right? She couldn't do it. The doctors are telling them, "You cannot go back to work again or you're never going to be able to do this job." They go back because they have families to support, and all that stuff. So they go back.
 
Anna: And that particular lady, she has been there 27 year, and look how they treating her. "You do 17 rooms, or don't work." No consideration.
 
Elda: But she injured herself because running to do her job.
 
Anna: To finish those 17 rooms.
 
AHPR: I would like to wrap this up, so what final comment would you like to say for the readers of Alaska Health Policy Review about this situation?
 
Elda: Well, I would like to say that because the increase of workload, they giving us a unsafe environment, easy to us to have injury, because all this job, this work. It is affecting to you mentally, you know? Because when you get off from that job, you are under a lot of stress, pain.
 
Anna: Me, in particular, to help us keep up the boycott on the Sheraton, so the Sheraton feel the pressure to at least sit down and give us a fair contract. We don't asking for nothing that we don't deserve. We don't asking for extra stuff, just to keep what we have. So, if [the readers] help us, in the way putting pressure to them, [hotel management] might be able to sit down with us and give us a fair contract.
 

AHPR: I'm assuming if you had a fair contract, for example if the contract had fewer rooms than 17 for you to clean, then that would help prevent your injuries and the stress, and so forth?
 
Anna: Yes.
 
Vicki: I think what I would like the readers to do is write down to the politician, maybe they should come up with something like legislation, you know, for all the hotels in Alaska, that maybe, let these workers do only 15 rooms, since we have high rate of injuries among room attendants. And they are the lowest paid, and they do the hard work, and they are the one who has the lowest paid, everywhere. You know, it will help them a lot.
 
AHPR: Maybe you could invite some legislators to come down and make up a room with you?
 
Anna: I think so.
 
Vicki: That would be nice. We did that with our managers, you know, when we was implementing the 17 rooms, she did it with the managers. She told the managers, "Why don't you go up and show us how to do it,?" And he did.
 
Jessica: Often times we think that the law is going to help us, and I think that that's why unions are so important, because if you can get it in your contract, it is an even better thing than what the law could provide. It's a way for the workers to have a voice on the job, in order to get those kinds of protections. What would be really great is if people would write the general managers of both these places and let them know, one, that they think it's not okay by increasing this workload, and two, that they are not going to come to these hotels anymore because these workers are the ones who are doing the hard work of pushing for the less rooms. Unfortunately, these two companies don't care about anything but the money. We believe they don't care about anything but the money, and that's why the workers voted to put boycotts on these hotels because it's the only way we can get them to listen.
 
AHPR: Thank you. Blanca, did you have any last comment you wanted to say?
 
Blanca: For help from other people, today, and help to the housekeepers, because housekeeping is very, very hard job. Very hard.
 
AHPR: Troy, do you have any last comment you'd like to say?
 
Troy: About our brothers and sisters in the Sheraton and Hilton hotel, we would like the management to consider that we are the people who work very hard to get a living, and we would like them to consider us as as human beings, not just thinking about money, money, and money for themself. Because, you know, we have to stay together. The employee have to be healthy to work a good job for them, because we can't go to work to for them 110 percent with 80 percent health.
 
Jessica: Troy, what happened to you when you were trying to get the message out to the public?
 
Troy: Well, they get rid of me because they want to make us weaker. They want to show the other employee that, "See, that is what he got, we had to get rid of him, so you know, we don't want you to do that." And then the people are afraid to fight back, and things like that. They will give us the lesser benefit.
 
Jessica: Troy is one of four people who were passing out flyers to customers about boycotting the hotel at the Sheraton. So these four people were some of our strongest people, were leaders inside the hotel, and they got rid of them. And we believe they got fired unjustly, so we have another unfair practice labor charge filed under that. But we are going to fight until we get these guys back.
 
Troy: We are going to fight until we outlast them.
 
AHPR: I want to thank you all for taking time on a Sunday afternoon for this interview, and telling the readers of Alaska Health Policy Review about the health issues in your jobs at the hotels. I wish you the best.

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