GOP convention won’t require masks.
Hospitality workers left uneasy as hundreds expect to lose health coverage next month
The Texas Republican Convention remains on track to take place in downtown Houston next month, and the state party is not planning to impose a mask requirement on attendees, despite a recent surge in local COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
On a call with party members last week, Texas GOP chairman James Dickey said he does not interpret Harris County’s mask order to cover the convention, which is set to take place July 16-18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The mandate compels businesses to require their customers to wear face masks.
Assistant Harris County Attorney Robert Soard said his office is reviewing the matter. The mask order is set to expire at the end of June, though County Judge Lina Hidalgo has hinted that she intends to extend it.
Hidalgo on Friday moved the county to the highest threat level on a COVID-19 scale that she unveiled earlier this month and called for a return to stay-at-home conditions.
The situation has created what union leaders say is a potentially perilous situation for workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel, which is connected to the convention center and expects to see an uptick in guests during the convention. Officials from Unite Here Local 23, the union that represents hotel and other hospitality workers, say health insurance benefits are set to expire for Hilton workers at the end of the month, since many of them were laid off at the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic, leaving them short of the hours needed to qualify for coverage.
Houston First Corp., the city’s convention arm, owns the Hilton Americas-Houston and operates the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Houston First Chairman David Mincberg disputed the union’s claim, saying in a statement to the Chronicle that all Houston First
and Hilton employees “will have health insurance coverage (except those who have opted out) while working at the George R. Brown Convention Center or the Hilton” during the convention. Mincberg also said Houston First officials “do not anticipate any part-time workers being utilized.”
Hilton employees are set to lose their health coverage at the end of July if they do not work enough hours in June to qualify for coverage, while those laid off earlier will lose it by June 30. Union officials said nearly 450 employees have been laid off by the Hilton since February, accounting for about 95 percent of the hotel’s employees.
Bo Delp, senior political organizer for Unite Here Local 23, questioned how the Hilton could adequately staff the convention if only 5 percent of its employees are set to qualify for health coverage through the end of July.
“Houston First has made a decision that during a global pandemic, it is going to continue to host events,” Delp said. “The minute they made that decision, from our perspective, they had a moral and public health obligation to make sure that the workers who are coming in as a result of their decision to host events, that they are healthy and safe.”
Mincberg said Houston First lacks the ability to cancel the event or require convention guests to wear masks, even if conditions worsen before mid-July.
“(Houston First) does not have the authority to require safety measures, unless included in the original license agreement,” Mincberg said. “Since this agreement was issued prior to the pandemic, no such provision was included.”
Catherine Troisi, an epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, urged Houston First officials to provide health coverage for hospitality workers and “institute preventive activities” to limit the spread of COVID-19 during large gatherings at the convention center.
“We know that closed spaces, crowded conditions, close contact and duration of contact all enhance transmission of this virus,” Troisi wrote in a letter to Mincberg on Tuesday. “This convention space includes all of these risk factors and particularly without mandatory masking, transmission of the virus is almost inevitable, both to convention attendees and to hospitality employees.”
Dickey, the Republican chair, said there would be an “abundance of hand sanitizer stations” at the convention.
Morgan Lloyd, a party spokeswoman, said officials will revisit the idea of a mask mandate at their next town hall meeting in July.
“We have said all along that people are welcome to wear masks if
they wish or welcome not to wear a mask,” Lloyd said. “We encourage everyone to take the precautions they feel they need to when it comes to masks, just like you do with hand sanitizer and social distancing guidelines.”
The Texas Democratic Party held a virtual convention in early June with guest speakers that included Joe Biden, the presumptive presidential nominee, and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Earlier this month, Unite Here urged Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston city council to waive Houston First’s annual lease payment and direct the agency to instead spend the funds on Hilton employees’ health coverage. The union also said the city should devote a portion of Houston First’s hotel occupancy tax revenue to extending health coverage for food service workers at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
In its petition to the city, the union also said Houston First should cover health benefits for employees of the Marriott Marquis, which is heavily subsidized by the city but privately owned. Like the Hilton, it is directly connected to the convention center.
Since then, the Marriott has extended health coverage through Oct. 2 for employees on furlough, temporary layoff or a reduced work schedule.
A spokesperson for Turner did not immediately respond to an inquiry
about Unite Here’s proposal, sending a copy of Mincberg’s comment instead. Earlier this month, after the union initially sought the waived lease payment for Houston First, Turner shot down the idea, writing in an email to the union, “We don’t know what this would accomplish other than hurting the city.”
Unite Here Local 23 secretarytreasurer Willy Gonzalez said that even if convention workers are covered through the end of July, they may need to pay hospital bills in August if they contract COVID-19 while working at the convention.
It takes an average of four to five days to develop symptoms after getting exposed to the coronavirus, while COVID-19 survivors typically are hospitalized for 10 to 13 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It was not clear how many of the temporarily laid off workers would be called to work during the convention, though Jacques D’Rovencourt, general manager of the Hilton Americas-Houston, said during a Houston First board meeting last week that the hotel is expected to surpass 50 percent occupancy during the convention.
Amid the pandemic, the Hilton has been more than 20 percent full on weekdays and nearly 30 percent on weekends, D’Rovencourt said.