150 SW 13th Avenue, Miami, FL  33135
Phone  (786) 264-1708; Fax  (786) 264-1859
Local Labor News
On October 5, 2009, employees of the
Fontainebleau Hotel gathered for a joyful
celebration, coming together to learn more
employer.  After three months working through
a difficult negotiation process, members of
UNITE HERE Local 355 met in Glimmer Room 1
to find out how those negotiations would impact
their lives and the lives of their families.  

Fernand Rosier, of the Stewarding Department
at the Fontainebleau, said, “I’m happy with my
job, but I’m not happy with what [the hotel]
doing.”  Rosier started at the hotel in October
2008 making $9.35/hour.  Other employees who
were hired in April 2009 started off making
$9.95.  Now all stewarding employees will get
$9.95.  Rosier was also pleased that family
health insurance will remain free to all
bargaining unit employees.

Launie Brunot works at the Bell Desk at the
Fontainebleau.  “I know we had a victory
Saturday night.  I’m here for more information.  
It’s good that we didn’t have to take further
steps-like marching, striking, picket lines.”  
Brunot is a committee member of UNITE HERE
and a Team Leader of her department.  She is
also attending Miami-Dade College as a
Pharmacy student.

The meeting was a chance for union members
and other employees to learn more about the
negotiations, and to celebrate the impact that
their act of joining together had on the hotel
workers' lives.

Results from the negotiations:

•        Health care: The hotel will pay any
increased cost of a healthcare plan each year.     
Workers will pay $0 for family healthcare.

•        Work load: The number of rooms that
the housekeeping staff cleans will be decreased
with credits given for working on three or four
floors.  Gratuities are to be kept by the
housekeepers (not the management).

•        Successor Language: If the employer
sells the hotel, employees will be able to keep
their jobs and their union.

•        Sick days: Earned sick days cannot be
used against an employee in the attendance
policy.

•        Hours: All workers will have a forty-hour
workweek.
What the Faith Community is Saying
"The freedom to join trade unions and
the effective action of unions...are meant
to deliver work from the mere condition
of 'a commodity' and to guarantee its
dignity...The right of association is a
natural right of the human
being...Indeed, the formation of unions
cannot...be prohibited by the state
because the state is bound to protect
natural rights..."
Pope John Paul II, (Centesimus Annus,
1992)


"Jewish Leaders, along with our Catholic
and Protestant counterparts, have always
supported the labor movement and the
rights of employees to form unions for
the purpose of engaging in collective
bargaining and attaining fairness in the
workplace. We believe that permanent
replacement of striking workers upsets
the balance of power needed for
democratic values of this nation."
(Preamble to the Workplace Fairness
Resolution adopted at 104th Annual
Convention, 1993)
Given by Rev. Steve Hudder, Christ Dinner at
the WeCount!  Community Workers Center on
Nov. 25, 2009
Amante Dios, dia a dia hay hombres,
mujeres, y ninos cruzando la frontera de
los Estados Unidos y emprendiendo el
viaje peligroso al norte.  Una frontera
hecha por seres humanos, no por Ti.
Rogamos, Dios, por Tu ayuda en
deshacer las fronteras que hemos creado
elrededor de nuestros corazones, para
que veamos tu rostro en cada persona, y
para que aprendamos a amar y dar la
bienvenida a cado uno de tus hijos e hijas
como miembros de un pueblo, un mundo,
un Dios.
O Dios de libertad! Asi como Moises,
nosotros tambien clamamos, "Deja salir a
mi pueblo." Que todos vayan donde
abunda la vida que tu has prometido.  
Que los que tienen poder aprendan a
usarlo con justicia.  Que los que cosechan
la comida sean alimentados al igual como
nosotros. Alimentanos bien con esta
comida. Que nos fortalezca para seguir
adelante en la lucha por romper las
cadena de la esclavitud, fructificando en
una rica cosecha de justicia. Como
Moises, queremos ayudar a tu pueblo a
encontrar la libertad. Amen.
November 25, 2009 - The past year has been
difficult for so many in our community.  The
economy is hurting and unemployment has been on
difficult for so many in our community.  The the rise,
but few have felt it as much as day the rise, but few
have felt it as much as day laborers.

community to earn enough to provide for their to
help provide a meal for the day laborers at the  
WeCount! Community Workers Center the day
before Thanksgiving.  

Members  of the faith community shared their  
abilities and abundance, offering a Thanksgiving
lunch to workers - a meal that could have been the
only one many received that day.

Thank you so much to Rev. Steve Hudder and
congregants of Christ Congregational of Cutler Bay,
as well as Jenny Aguilar of Homestead, for
preparing the food for this wonderful event!  And
thank you to those of you who made the donations
which enabled SFIWJ to provide some of the food
for the event.  It truly was "un dia para la accion de
gracias."

Click here to read the Thanksgiving Prayer given by
Rev. Steve Hudder of Christ Congregational Church
on November 25, 2009.