Statement For
Seattle protects women.
Initiative 124 protects hotel housekeepers from sexual harassment by hotel guests.
124 isn't singling out the hotel industry. 124 is singling out a unique circumstance. There is no other industry where so many women are working alone cleaning men's bedrooms without any protection... no security guard standing by, no general public watching, no surveillance cameras.
Surveys this year show that as many as 53% of Seattle hotel housekeepers have been subjected to gross sexual behavior by male hotel guests.
The solution is prevention. Initiative 124 will provide hotel housekeepers with a "panic button." When they encounter a bad circumstance, they can easily summon hotel security for help. If hotel security concludes that the guest's behavior was inappropriate, the guest will be asked to leave and not return to that hotel in the future.
Hotel housekeepers have among the highest rates of injury of any occupation in the nation. Heavy mattresses = shoulder injuries. Cleaning hundreds of bathrooms = falls. Cleaning 20 bedrooms and bathrooms in 8 hours pushes women to work at a pace that breaks down their bodies. 124 applies reasonable workload standards already used by thoughtful hotel employers.
124 makes the promise of health care more attainable for hotel housekeepers and levels the competitive playing field for hotels that already provide affordable family health benefits to housekeepers.
Seattle's hospitality industry is strong. Our growth in hotel guests was 20% faster than the rest of the nation and hotel room prices rose 9%. Visitors spent $6.8 billion here. Seattle invests in the industry because we respect its importance.
Like any political campaign, there will be enough argument back and forth that can be difficult to follow. In the case of 124, you need not look any further than what our City Attorney has neutrally summarized: "If passed, this initiative would require certain sized hotel-employers to further protect employees against assault, sexual harassment, and injury...improve access to health care...limit workloads...and provide limited job security for employees upon hotel ownership transfer."
124 is a good step in the right direction for an important industry.
Endorsements:
NARAL Pro Choice, King County Labor Council, One America Votes, Casa Latina, King County Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, LGBTQ Allyship, Gender Justice League, Legal Voice, API Chaya, Church Council of Greater Seattle, Puget Sound Sage, Statewide Poverty Action Network, King County Coalition Ending Gender Based Violence, and many more.
www.seattleprotectswomen.org. Yes on 124.
Submitted by:
Lorena Gonzalez, Seattle City Councilmember
Pramila Jayapal, State Senator
Nicole Grant, Martin Luther King County Labor Council
www.seattleprotectswomen.org
Rebuttal to Statement For
Rebuttal, No on I-124
It is outright false for I-124 supporters to claim Seattle hotels leave employees “without any protection” at work.
Nearly all Seattle hotels already have safety alerts and protocols in place and commit to further enhance them.
Authors of I-124 would have known this had they sought input of safety experts, hotels, hotel employees and state and local agencies.
This initiative won’t make workers safer. It is full of legal flaws. It violates citizens’ rights to due process.
The city attorney summarized I-124, as required by law. The same city attorney recommended city council meet in executive session to discuss I-124’s legal issues.
Why are supporters ignoring that unions can hypocritically negotiate away most of the provisions in the initiative?
I-124 isn’t a “good step in the right direction.” It’ll end up stranded in courtrooms wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars. And, the city has no money for enforcement.
Vote no.
VoteNo124.com
Submitted by:
Jenne Neptune, the president of the Seattle Hotel Association
Maud Smith Daudon, the president and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
Carla Murray
VoteNo124.com