What the Boss of the Most Devastated Union in Travel Has to Say About the Future
Photo Credit: Unite Here President D. Taylor wants improved unemployment benefits and safer workplace standards before sending members back to work at hotels and casinos across the U.S. and Canada. Piqsels
Skift Take
Hoteliers are expected to rely heavily on technology to run properties in the coronavirus recovery, but Unite Here expects heightened cleaning standards will usher in a need for more workers. Cost-cutting for near-term survival may delay the opportunities the labor movement desires.
Coronavirus has ravaged hotel employment levels, but the leader of one of the hospitality industry’s largest unions still sees opportunity for the labor movement in the ongoing crisis.
Roughly 98 percent of Unite Here’s 300,000 members across the U.S. and Canada have lost their jobs due to coronavirus-related shutdowns and the downturn in travel. Unite Here President D. Taylor is leading the labor union through its most difficult time and working to ensure members maintain healthcare benefits and unemployment insurance while also taking part in discussions on how states can reopen their economies.
“I remember 9/11 quite well and the hurricanes, Great Recession, and mass shootings in Vegas and Orlando. I’ve never dealt with a workforce that wants to go back to work but is also very scared to go back to work because there’s no real separation here between workers and customers,” Taylor said. “On both sides, there’s a fair amount of peril.”
In an interview with
