* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke
At the request of: NAACP Baltimore City Branch of the and the Philadelphia Joint Board of
UNITEHERE!
Address: c/o Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham, President, NAACP Baltimore City Branch, 8 W. 26th
Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Telephone: 410-366-3300
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
In Support of B-More United
FOR the purpose of expressing support for the B-More United Campaign of the cooks, housekeepers, servers, and banquet staff at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel and their boycott of the hotel in demand of adequate rights, job security, decent wages, affordable health care, and a pension plan.
Body
Recitals
The unionized employees at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center hotel are employed by the Columbia Sussex Corporation. Since March 2006, the cooks, housekeepers, servers, and banquet staff have been trying to negotiate affordable healthcare benefits, safer workloads, job security, and retirement benefits. They have been working without a union contract since April 2006.
The Columbia Sussex Corporation, the ownership company of the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel, has unilaterally implemented their final offer to the employees. As a result, there has been a reduction in benefits, a reduction in compensation for banquet employees, an increase in workload for housekeepers, non-recognition of seniority rights for scheduling, and significant reductions in workers' rights on the jobs.
An overwhelming majority of workers at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel called for a boycott of their own hotel in November 2007 - "By standing together, we are sending a message to Columbia Sussex and the rest of the hotel industry: We are determined to make our jobs decent jobs. We are determined to support our families here in Baltimore". The boycott is endorsed by the Baltimore AFL-CIO, the Maryland and DC AFL-CIO, the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP, and many other organizations that advocate for working families in Maryland.
The City Council supports the employees of the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel and encourages individuals and businesses to support the boycott until such time as the contract is settled to the workers' satisfaction.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body supports the B-More United Campaign of the cooks, housekeepers, servers, and banquet staff at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel and their boycott of the hotel in demand of adequate rights, job security, decent wages, affordable health care, and a pension plan.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the President, NAACP Baltimore City Branch, the Coordinator, Hotel Development, Strategic Affairs Department, UNITEHERE!, the Executive Director of the Convention Center, the CEO and President of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, the Director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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