The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Workers worry June 20 is too soon to open hotels
Connecticut hotel workers are expressing reservations about Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to allow hotels to resume booking rooms to general guests on June 20 as part of a second “reopening” phase, following Wednesday’s allowance for outdoor restaurant table service.
Hotel workers from New Haven, Stamford, Greenwich and Hartford spoke Thursday on a teleconference hosted by the Local 217 affiliate of Unite Here, which has been advocating protections for workers in industries at risk of exposure to the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus.
On a Thursday webinar hosted by Hearst Connecticut Media, Lamont reiterated his goal of having hotels resume bookings on June 20.
“A month is a lifetime in coronavirus years,” Lamont said. “We will have a clearer indication if that will happen in the first or second week of June. We think we can open hotels then, but we need real guidance to open them safely.”
Connie Holt, Unite Here’s secretary treasurer, emphasized the union is trying to balance safety considerations with the need for hotels to recover revenues on which jobs depend. The state Department of Revenue Services reported a 62 percent decrease in room occupancy taxes in April from a year earlier, with hotels having been allowed to book rooms for hospital workers, emergency responders and homeless shelters to reduce the risk of any rapid spread of coronavirus in their facilities.
“If the ... industry does not provide safe hotels, then the customers aren’t going to come to Connecticut and stay in the hotels,” Holt said. “Not only are we concerned about our safety when we report to work, but we are also concerned about the future of our jobs and the future of our industry . ... Gov. Lamont needs to implement strong, comprehensive health and safety guidelines to hotels in this next phase of reopening Connecticut.”
Through a translator, Hilton Stamford Hotel worker Maria Ines Orjuela summed up the challenges.
“I clean rooms, and that is direct contact with ... towels, with toilets, with sinks — I am coming face to face with everything a guest has,” the translator quoted her saying. “My fear is that when I return to work, there will not be enough personal protective guarantees in order to make sure that I am OK while I am on the job.”
Monique Douglas, a housekeeping staff member of the Hartford Hilton, cited among her concerns the time allowed by workers to do the kind of deep clean that rooms now require.
“I’m a very picky housekeeper ... and I’m not leaving the room until the room is properly (cleaned),” Douglas said. “We need the time to be able to go in these rooms and do these jobs properly. This is not going to be an easy turnover.”