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Coronavirus

What the Boss of the Most Devastated Union in Travel Has to Say About the Future

Cameron Sperance

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 Skift this week, Taylor outlined baseline expectations the labor union wants from municipalities and private companies before he feels comfortable sending members back to their jobs. While there is plenty of work ahead for the union, Taylor also feels confident the crisis – which many analysts expect will result in a pivot from human workforce to technological replacements in the recovery – can be an advantage for the labor movement. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

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Skift: Coronavirus put a catastrophic 98 percent of Unite Here’s membership out of work. What options do members have to financially get through something that is lasting significantly longer than what anyone was expecting back in March? Taylor: Clearly people want to go back to work if for nothing else because the unemployment system in this country is a disgrace. Take Florida, for example: 1.5 million people had applied a few weeks ago, and only 400,000 have received benefits [Note: as of Tuesday, 1.9 million unemployment claims have been submitted, and nearly 694,000 people received benefits, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity dashboard.]. You

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