November 20, 2013

Contact: Steve Crawford, Crawford Strategies (857) 753-4132 steve@crawfordstrategies.com

Hundreds of Harvard Students and Allies Rally for Fair Treatment of Harvards Hotel Workers Students highlight findings of new report DoubleTree Double Standard
CAMBRIDGE On March 12th, 2013, a supermajority of workers at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Hotel in Allston came together to ask their employer for a fair process to decide upon unionization. Since then, workers at Harvards DoubleTree have not received a fair process. Today at 5 PM at the Holyoke Center hundreds of students and allies will rally to shed light on the findings of a new report about the workers at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree titled DoubleTree Double Standard. The report is a result of dozens of worker surveys conducted by Harvard student Gabriel Bayard over the summer of 2013. I was dismayed to hear stories of chronic pain, debilitating injuries, poverty and loved ones without health insurance. Ninety-six percent of surveyed workers said that their jobs had gotten worse in the past six years; 84% said they could not imagine working there for the next ten years. I was shocked. This was not the Harvard that I knew Bayard said. When it came time for me to go on my maternity leave, my supervisors pushed me to keep working Delmy Lemus, a room Attendant at Harvards DoubleTree for 5 years said. I was nine months pregnant and still doing difficult heavy labor. I worked until 3 days before my daughter was born. This injured my spine, and I still have back pain two years later. As a result of her injury, Delmy says: I could not even pick up my daughter. As a Harvard student, I see the DoubleTree workers playing a crucial role in creating a home away from home for my family, for travelling faculty and other guests when they come to our campus, said Gabriel Bayard, a junior at Harvard University studying Social Studies. The workers stories in this report are Harvards stories, it is our responsibility to listen and act. WHAT: WHEN: WHO: WHERE: Rally to Highlight findings of DoubleTree Double Standard Report November 21, 5 p.m. Harvard Students, Allies, Harvards DoubleTree Workers, Hotel and Foodservice Workers Outside Holyoke Center, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge ###