International Women’s Day: Boycott Hyatt. Hyatt hurts women.

Hyatt Hurt Women: The Clothesline Project.

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day.

While the Limbaugh Party’s War on Women is well known, less well known is the war on working women, hotel workers at the Hyatt Hotel, who are waging a battle for respect and a decent contract.

The Hyatt chain is owned by the Pritzker family, big-time Obama campaign funders and Rahm Emanuel pals.

The Chicago-based Pritzker family was in the news last week for their success in skipping out on their property taxes. Penny Pritzker owns a seven-bathroom mansion in Lincoln Park, sits on the Chicago school board and votes to close neighborhood schools.

Her husband sits on the Chicago Park District board.

As a leading member of the Civic Committee, Penny treats teacher pensions like she treats her property tax bill. She doesn’t think the state should meet its obligations.

And talk about a war on women.

From the Hyatt Hurts website:

On August 31, 2009, Hyatt fired its entire housekeeping staff at three non-union hotels in the Boston area, replacing women who had worked at Hyatt for decades with workers from a temporary agency. Many of the fired workers report that Hyatt required that they train their replacements. Their replacements now earn minimum wage and clean as many as 30 rooms a day. Few if any of the subcontracted workers receive health insurance.

The story of the “Hyatt 100” represents just one dramatic example of how Hyatt’s aggressive use of subcontractors is destroying good jobs. Using subcontractors allows Hyatt to pay housekeepers poverty wages while evading legal liability for unsafe working conditions or hiring undocumented workers.