Local hospitality workers call on industry to honor recall rights
29th March 2021 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
A local union of hospitality workers earlier this month launched an effort to publicize the plight of the thousands of employees of New Orleans hotels, casinos, restaurants and other tourism-focused businesses who have lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the city and the nation marked the start of the pandemic’s second year at the same time Americans began receiving the COVID vaccine en masse, the members of UNITE HERE Local 23 held a press conference on March 16 at the steps of City Hall to announce their support for the recall rights of local hospitality workers who lost their jobs at New Orleans tourist-centered businesses and, as a result, have faced months of displacement and financial uncertainty.
Employment recall rights require employers to offer first rehires to former employees as the tourism industry and individual businesses open back up. Recall rights provide laid off workers who previously lost their jobs a fair chance at regaining their employment as the economy cranks back into gear and the pandemic wanes.
“These people want to work,” said Leah Bailey, a research analyst with UNITE HERE Local 23. “They’ve put in the time, they’ve cooked the food, they’ve made the beds. They work hard at it, they’re good at it, and they want to do it.”
Cyril Ellsworth, a member of Local 23 who was laid off from Harrah’s New Orleans Hotel and Casino during the pandemic and has not yet been rehired, said he had worked for Harrah’s for more than 20 years before losing his job last year, when he was five years short of retirement.
Ellsworth said that since he began working at Harrah’s in 1999, the world, and New Orleans in particular, have changed a great deal, economically and healthwise, making the loss of his job even more devastating in this new environment.
“It’s a whole new world,” he said of life post-pandemic. “Things are so different.” Ellsworth added that after two decades of employment at Harrah’s, the loss of his job stunned him. He said that he’d want his employer to show the same kind of dedication to him and his coworkers as they have given the company, especially at such a crucial time.
“This was an unforeseen occurrence,” he said of the pandemic and job loss. “We had no control over it. If someone works for a company, we’d look to them to show appreciation for the years of service for them.”
Those affiliated with UNITE HERE emphasized that while all local hospitality workers have had a nerve-wracking, often calamitous year, African-American and Latinx workers in particular have gotten much of the worst of it. According to a report issued earlier this month by Local 23, roughly 45,000 leisure and hospitality workers – about half of the pre-pandemic industry workforce – had lost their jobs by April 2020, the lowest point of the economic crisis.
Even as the local economy slowly began to reopen after the ensuing months, as of December 2020, leisure and hospitality employment in New Orleans remains down 21 percent from before the pandemic.
The Local 23 report homes in on two of the properties in particular in downtown New Orleans – the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel and Loews New Orleans Hotel – that reflect the disproportionate way the pandemic furloughs have affected workers of color.
Before the pandemic, there were 421 Local 23 members working at the Hilton, and 100 at Loews. However, as of last month, only 99 still worked at the Hilton and just 32 were still employed at Loews. Those figures represent stark drops of 76 percent and 68 percent, respectively.
Looking closer, Black workers have received the brunt of the blow. At the Hilton, 63 percent of the jobless non-managerial workers are Black, compared to 16 percent white, seven percent Latinx and four percent Asian.
At Loews, 69 percent of the unemployed non-managerial workers are Black, compared to 15 percent white, seven percent Latinx and seven percent Asian.
The report concludes that winning and preserving recall rights for not just the members of UNITE HERE but all of the city’s tens of thousands of leisure and hospitality workers will be crucial to stabilizing the local economy and providing employment and financial security to one of New Orleans’ most important corps of workers.
That need is only heightened by the disproportionate way the fallout of the pandemic – community health-wise and economically – has hurt Black residents and workers of color. “Recall rights are urgently needed to create stability in the hospitality workforce,” the report stated.” Without this action, thousands of New Orleans workers, particularly Black workers, risk dire economic uncertainty. New Orleans has invested heavily in developing its tourism and hospitality workforce. Hospitality workers have stepped up to be ambassadors for our city and have worked hard for the success of our economy. Now is the time to stand with them.”
Hilton Hotels did not return an inquiry from The Louisiana Weekly. Loews officials also did not answer requests for comment.
In addition to Loews and the downtown Hilton, UNITE HERE Local 23 has members working at school cafeterias, Harrah’s hotel and casino, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and various concessions at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Local 23 has managed to secure job recall agreements with all of them except Loews.
Bailey said the purpose of the report as well as the March 16 press conference was to raise public awareness of the battles facing not just UNITE HERE members, but all the leisure, hospitality and tourism workers in the New Orleans area.
“I think that it is important to mention that we represent just a small portion of the hospitality workers and that there are thousands of non-union workers (specifically black workers) whose jobs are at risk,” she said in an ensuing email to The Louisiana Weekly. “This is a problem that needs to be addressed by businesses and our local government.”
Ellsworth said that despite the dire challenges being faced by himself, his fellow hospitality workers and the country as a whole, he remains optimistic that finally, after a year of hardship, they’re starting to turn a corner economically and personally.
“I’m just hoping for the best for all of us moving forward,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of businesses opening up, and everyone needs their job. We have a bright future coming.”
This article originally published in the March 29, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
