Hyatt suddenly lays off housekeepers

[ron_newman]

Some of the staff we all love at the Hyatt were suddenly laid off last month -- after being asked to train their replacements:

Housekeepers lose Hyatt jobs to outsourcing

When the housekeepers at the three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area were asked to train some new workers, they said they were told the trainees would be filling in during vacations.

On Aug. 31, staffers learned the full story: None of them would be making the beds and cleaning the showers any longer. All of them were losing their jobs. The trainees, it turns out, were employees of a Georgia company, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who were replacing them that day.

Comments

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

Compare to other companies that have done the same, like AT&T wireless (hello iPhone users) and to places like BoA that are up front about training replacements but will [threaten to] withhold all severance pay should the employee refuse.

And the severance the Hyatt folks were give (if the below is correct) is about twice what companies give on average (as days-of-pay).

Not that extra cash excuses such behavior, mind you.

[ron_newman]

This practice is evil no matter who is doing it. If the Hyatt incident leads to a general public backlash against such practices, that's all the better.

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

This way of doing business is status quo. The companies that do it make better margins, do better in the market, and in tough times... survive. This is Spart.. no, wait, this is capitalism, at its coldest. But that is the system this country embraces.

If you have not been aware that business has functioned and thrived like this for more than the last 20 years, then you haven't been paying attention.