News and Press

Workers call for boycott of HEI-owned Embassy Suites in Irvine (UNITE HERE, 09/01/10)

Workers from the HEI-owned Embassy Suites hotel in Irvine announced Tuesday afternoon they are calling for a boycott of their employer. The boycott is the second worker-called embargo of a HEI-owned hotel in Southern California, and the fourth in the country. Other boycotted HEI properties include the Hilton Long Beach, Sheraton Crystal City and Le Meridien in San Francisco. Under boycott, workers request that potential customers not eat, sleep or meet at the HEI-owned hotels.
HEI Hotels and Resorts Reinstates Fired Union Leader After Year-Long Worker and Student Campaign (UNITE HERE, 6/14/2010)

This week HEI Hotels and Resorts agreed to return fired Union leader Ferdi Lazo to work at the Sheraton Crystal City hotel. HEI signed a settlement agreement with Region 5 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLR) to reinstate Ferdi Lazo, pay 80% of his back wages for the 14 months he was fired, remove a written discipline given to a front desk worker active in the union, and post a public pledge in the hotel to respect workers' legal rights to collective action.
Gutmann decries gap in admission (The Daily Princetonian, 04/30/10)

In her first public address at Princeton since leaving in 2004, University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann challenged universities to combat the underrepresentation of middle-class students on college campuses and to act in a "publicly defensible way"... In addition to a discussion ranging from SAT test preparation to K-12 education, Gutmann also faced a question from a Penn student about Penn's investments with HEI Hotels & Resorts, which has been accused of workers' rights violations...
Univ. weighs next step on controversial investment (The Yale Daily News, 04/29/10)

Yale's Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility has not found proof that HEI Hotels & Resorts mistreated employees. But if it does, the committee may urge Yale to stop investing in HEI, not just ask HEI to remedy its practices, committee chair Jonathan Macey said Monday...
Notre Dame students protesting university investments (South Ben Tribune, 04/20/10)

SOUTH BEND — Some University of Notre Dame students began a five-day hunger strike on Monday to protest the university's investment in HEI Hotels & Resorts...
Students protest HEI, go on hunger strike (The Notre Dame Observer, 04/20/10)

A coalition of students protesting the allegedly poor treatment of HEI Hotel Workers gathered in front of the Main Building Monday to kick off a weeklong hunger strike. Dressed in orange jumpsuits and donning signs, the students sat on a blanket on God Quad facing the Golden Dome in an attempt to ask University officials to change their investment policy with HEI Hotels...
Getting to the real issues behind HEI (The Notre Dame Observer, 04/13/10)

In response to alumnus Mark Goodman's Letter to the Editor ("Being 'anti-union' perfectly legal," April 8) I'd like to address some of his basic premises. Mr. Goodman attempts to respond to an article which states that HEI Hotels and Resorts is essentially anti-union for hiring an anti-union consultant. This is a premise that Mr. Goodman agrees with, but then makes the leap to say that the University need not concern itself with HEI because being anti-union is not inherently illegal. Mr. Goodman misses the point. Scott Malpass, the head of the Investment office, refuses to negotiate on the issue because he persists with the myth that HEI "is not anti-union in any way"...
Students uphold Notre Dame mission (The Notre Dame Observer, 04/12/10)

As members of the faculty and staff at Notre Dame, we take seriously the University's mission statement, which says, "The University seeks to cultivate in its students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings, but also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice and oppression that burden the lives of so many. The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice"...
Simmons praised for leadership on worker rights (The Brown Daily Herald, 04/08/10)

Sixty-three students from seven universities sent a letter Tuesday to President Ruth Simmons, commending her leadership in publicly responding to allegations of workers' rights violations by HEI Hotels and Resorts and asking her to encourage their schools to follow Brown's example and reconsider their investments in HEI...
Vanderbilt Students Join Others in Questioning University's Investments (Inside Vandy, 04/04/10)

Vanderbilt University is receiving criticism from student organizations for what they view as questionable investment decisions. The Vanderbilt logo was used in an October 2006 presentation given at Cornell University by HEI Hotels and Resorts, the seventh largest hospitality investment and operating company in the United States...
PWR plans April Fools' Day Protest (The Daily Princetonian, 04/01/10)

Today, April Fools' Day, members of Princeton for Workers' Rights plan to protest the University's alleged continued investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts by presenting President Shirley Tilghman with thank you cards every hour that commend her, the University Board of Trustees and PRINCO — the Princeton University Investment Company, which manages the University's endowment — on their attention to ethics and divestment from HEI. The University has not divested from HEI, PWR members said, but they hope that the iron of their gesture — in conjunction with the nature of the holiday — will raise awareness for their cause...
HEI: Still an issue (The Notre Dame Observer, 03/31/10)

Despite the fact that we are no longer sporting our incredibly sexy and stylish orange jumpsuits this week, the issue of Notre Dame's investment in hotel company HEI is still a pressing one...
Students protest University investment (The Notre Dame Observer, 03/25/10)

Sophomore Roman Sanchez and junior Liz Furman were two of several students who distributed flyers outside the Junior Parents Weekend Mass to raise awareness about the University's investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts — a hotel chain with alleged unfair labor practices...
University reconsiders controversial investment (The Yale Daily News, 03/23/10)

Yale's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility may reevaluate its stance on the University's investment in HEI Hotels & Resorts in the wake of Brown University president Ruth Simmons's letter to HEI, in which Simmons expressed concern over allegations that the company violated labor laws...
Simmons warns HEI over rights (The Brown Daily Herald, 03/19/10)

President Ruth Simmons wrote a letter to HEI Hotels and Resorts' CEO last month to publicly express concern over reports of workers' rights violations, becoming the first university leader to do so, according to a March 15 press release from the Brown Student Labor Alliance...
Let's talk about justice (The Notre Dame Observer, 03/17/10)

Pope John Paul II in "On Human Work" writes "[Unions] are indeed a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people." Despite this basic right to organize, Notre Dame has millions of dollars invested in HEI Hotels and Resorts, the seventh largest hotel management company in the US...
Brown responds to investment protests (The Yale Daily News, 03/15/10)

Almost a year and a half after students at campuses across the country — including Yale — began protesting their universities' purported investments in HEI Hotels & Resorts, Brown University president Ruth Simmons sent a letter to the company last month, questioning its "alleged intimidation of workers involved in union organizing activities," according to a Brown Student Labor Union press release...
Student coalition rallies for budget transparency (The Brown Daily Herald, 03/01/10)

The Open the Books Coalition held a teach-in and a rally this weekend in protest of the University's confidential investment policy. The coalition, a joint effort between Students for a Democratic Society, the Student Labor Alliance and Brown Students for Justice in Palestine, was created to fight for a transparent endowment that the community would play a role in crafting, said Susan Beaty '10, who moderated the teach-in....
Students protest U.'s hotel investment (The Brown Daily Herald, 02/17/10)

A crowd of students from the Student Labor Alliance gathered outside of University Hall on Tuesday to protest Brown's investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts. The hotel chain was started by a Cornell graduate, and has been invested in by numerous "well-known, prestigious universities" including Brown, said group member Lenora Knowles '11. Over the past two years, the student group has been fighting for a divestment from HEI due to labor practices that the group thinks are unfair, Knowles said....
Valentines for labor rights (The Daily Pennsylvanian, 02/16/10)

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, members of the Student Labor Action Project delivered Valentines to Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and pillows to Penn President Amy Gutmann every hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. yesterday...
Rose Espinola: A SLAP to the University (The Daily Pennsylvanian, 02/04/10)

Students sent 800faxes and e-mails to Penn President Amy Gutmann. A rally in October took place outside of College Hall, and students sent a delegation to the University president's office. Mops were delivered every hour to her on Nov. 12. I was abroad last semester, and I thought that by the time I returned to campus, Gutmann would surely have found a resolution to Penn's questionable investment in HEI Hotels & Resorts...
Workers, Students Take On University-Funded Hotel Firm (In These Times, 11/12/09)

Penn President Amy Gutmann won't have to go mop shopping any time soon. On Thursday, members of Penn's chapter of the Student Labor Action Project delivered mops to Gutmann's office in attempt to protest Penn's investment in the hotel company HEI....
Students mop up for HEI labor rights: Group encourages divestment from hotel company in yesterday's protest (The Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/12/09)

Penn President Amy Gutmann won't have to go mop shopping any time soon. On Thursday, members of Penn's chapter of the Student Labor Action Project delivered mops to Gutmann's office in attempt to protest Penn's investment in the hotel company HEI....
The truth about Brown's investments (The Brown Daily Herals, 11/05/09)

Last fall, the Brown Student Labor Alliance learned of Brown's investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts, the nation's seventh-largest hotel management company. We were compelled to speak out after we heard stories from workers about conditions in HEI hotels, as well as HEI's anti-union activity....
Letter: Investment transparency is in everyone's best interest (The Brown Daily Herald, 9/23/09)

As members of the Open the Books! Coalition, we are disappointed with the Herald's editorial on the endowment ("Transparency and the endowment," Oct. 20) that claims that more investment transparency is "undesirable." Disclosing the nature of investments to the campus community is not an uncommon practice at other universities...
Calling out the misinformed (The Brown Daily Herald, 9/15/09)

This past Monday, Jonathan Topaz '12 wrote a column ("SDS' golden opportunity," Sept. 14) urging Students for a Democratic Society to organize against the U.S.'s occupation of Afghanistan. As a member of that organization, I too have a "quick piece of advice to the new Class of 2013": be wary of uninformed columnists for The Herald...
Sixteen Rooms: The Campaign for a Hotel Workers Union (Free Speech Radio News, 9/07/09)

If you went out of town this holiday weekend, you may have stayed in a hotel. On this Labor Day, FSRN introduces you to the people who made your bed and scrubbed your tub – and takes you inside a whole new kind of hotel industry that might surprise you. It's an old-fashioned union battle … with a twist....
Hilton workers clash over boycott, union effort (Long Beach Press-Telegram, 9/3/09)

Long Beach Hilton housekeepers, servers and other employees Thursday clashed over an effort to boycott the downtown hotel...
Trabajadores denuncian abusos e intimidación (Washington Hispanic, 8/7/09)

Decenas de trabajadores del hotel Sheraton de Crystal City marcharon para denunciar abusos laborales como recarga de trabajo, falta de implementos necesarios, limitado acceso al seguro médico e incluso intimidación y despidos arbitrarios contra empleados que han demostrado su participación en el proceso de sindicalización...
The Wharton School of Business vs. SF Hotel Workers (The Beyond Chron, 6/26/09)

At first blush, the Wharton School, based at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, does not seem likely to be a factor in San Francisco politics. But Wharton, founded in 1881, billing itself as the "world's first collegiate business school," also has an outpost in our City by the Bay. Located "near the heart of San Francisco's business district" in the historic Folger Building at 101 Howard, Wharton San Francisco "extends the reach of the School's programs... to the western U.S. and Pacific rim countries" for students aiming at careers as business executives...
Students tell University to stand with HEI hotel workers (Philly Labor, 5/12/09)

On April 29, approximately 50 students from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn),came together for a letter drop and rally in support of the hotel workers at HEI Hotels & Resorts. They were joined by two workers from an HEI hotel in Northern Virginia...
Community Members Deliver Letters to Hotel Industry to Live Up to Responsibilities to Long Beach and Pay Living Wages to Boost Local Economy (LAANE, 4/22/09)

Over a hundred community, religious and student leaders joined hotel workers today in Long Beach to deliver letters to four Long Beach hotels including the Long Beach Hilton, Hyatt, Westin and Marriott. Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga joined the community in calling for a fair return on the public's investment in the form of good jobs and better working conditions for Long Beach residents....
Letter to the Editor: University should further examine its investments (The Daily Princetonian, 3/24/09)

In a letter to the editor dated March 5, 2009, an HEI executive promised the Princeton community that HEI treats their workers with respect, good benefits and a safe environment to organize.
I have reason to doubt their claims. Earlier this month, I was part of a delegation that presented workers' demands for card-check neutrality to the management of an HEI-owned hotel in Arlington, Va...
Letter to the Editor: Princeton for Workers' Rights criticisms are misplaced (The Daily Princetonian, 3/5/09)

In the Feb. 23rd story regarding the PWR's protesting of University investments HEI Hotels & Resorts was singled out as a company guilty of unfair labor practices. It should be noted that HEI has long offered to allow our associates to participate in a democratic secret ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board regarding union recognition. This process would allow for the prompt and impartial resolution of this question and ensure our associates are free from harassment and intimidation...
Editorial: Investing in and with ethics (The Daily Princetonian, 3/4/09)

Last week, members of Princeton for Workers' Rights (PWR) protested alleged University investments in HEI Hotels & Resorts after learning that employees were publicly voicing their discontent with HEI's employment practices and unionization policies...
Students ask to cut ties from HEI: Alliance says company 'undermined' dignity of employees, University denies request (Notre Dame Observer, 4/15/09)

A coalition of students from the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) met with Chief Investment Officer Scott Malpass and a representative from HEI Hotels and Resorts Tuesday to ask the University to cut ties with the company...
Letter to the Editor: HEI misrepresented (Brown Daily Herald, 4/20/09)

Members of the Student Labor Alliance appreciate The Herald's coverage of our presentation Tuesday to the BUCC. However, we would like to clarify a few facts. HEI Hospitality is NOT a union, as the article mistakenly states. HEI is a hotel management company which has taken steps to discourage its workers from forming a union and ignored its employees' request at several of its properties to choose whether or not to join a union in an environment free from fear and intimidation...
Students Ask Penn to Flex Muscle in Unionization Debate (Daily Pennsylvanian, 3/5/09)

In economic and business classes across campus, students learn about labor as an abstraction, as a commodity, as something to be traded on the market. But for Peter Ho and three other hotel workers who spoke last week with a group of students, faculty and staff, labor is deeply personal.
HEI hotel workers ask for support (The Notre Dame Observer, 2/19/09)

Three hotel workers and a union organizer urged Notre Dame students to support the rights of HEI Hotels and Resorts workers to unionize at an event hosted by the Coalition for Economic Justice in the Dooley Room of LaFortune Wednesday...
Non-union hotel pressed on organizing effort (San Francisco Chronicle, 2/24/09)

The union representing most hotel workers in San Francisco is attempting to put economic pressure on two non-union hotels that have not agreed to accommodate an organizing effort...
Princeton for Workers' Rights protests U. investments (Daily Princetonian, 2/23/09)

Members of Princeton for Workers' Rights (PWR) advocated this weekend for the University to pressure HEI Hotels & Resorts to permit its workers to organize in a fair and neutral environment. PWR members campaigned at Frist Campus Center on Friday and Saturday to raise awareness and gather signatures for a petition to the University, which has reportedly invested millions of dollars in HEI.
Undergraduate Organizing Committee: Yale should pressure HEI to change policies (Yale Daily News, 2/16/09)

Last week, students in the Undergraduate Organizing Committee collected almost 300 valentines for President Levin. On each one, students expressed their love for Yale and their support for workers at HEI Hotels & Resorts, in which Yale is a major investor...
College students back hotel workers (Long Beach Press-Telegram, 2/2/09)

Nearly 300 people, including local and out-of-state college students, came to rally with hotel workers outside Hilton Long Beach hotel on Saturday as they continued a 7-month long fight to unionize and receive better pay and health care. Local colleges, Cal State Long Beach, USC and UCLA along with students from Harvard, Brown, Yale, George Washington, Cornell, University of Michigan and Notre Dame, who were in town for a United Students Against Sweatshops Conference joined the fight...
Yale students criticize University investments (The Chicago Maroon, 2/2/09)

A group of Yale students spoke to their university's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) on Thursday about ethical concerns involving the school's investments in HEI Hotels and Resorts, a company they alleged reduces employee wages and health benefits and discourages worker unionization. The University of Chicago, Harvard, and Princeton are other major investors in HEI.
Union propels HEI protests (Yale Daily News, 12/3/08)

The sit-in held by Yale's Undergraduate Organizing Committee last month was just one of a dozen nationwide efforts to protest university investments in a hotel company. But all of the campaigns, though led by students, originated from the same place: a union, UNITE HERE...
Students Protest Ties To Co. With Alleged Labor Law Violations (Cornell Sun, 12/4/08)

The labor and management practices at a California hotel — owned by a company that has close ties to the University — are drawing criticism from a hospitality workers union and student groups at several college campuses. Workers at the Hilton Long Beach and Executive Meeting Center in Long Beach, Calif. allege that the hotel managers are unfairly interfering with their desire to organize. The Hilton Long Beach is owned by HEI Hotels and Hospitality, a company founded in 1985 by Gary Mendell '79 and Steve Mendell '82, both of whom graduated from the School of Hotel Administration. HEI owns 30 luxury hotels across the country. The company maintains a "very active relationship" with Cornell, according to its spokesperson, Jess Petitt '05.
Undergraduate Organizing Committee: Explaining our sit-in (Yale Daily News, 11/21/08)

The Undergraduate Organizing Committee is grateful for the News' coverage of our activities, but in the face of the accusations made by Kate Maltby and the misunderstandings that could have dictated such a response, we would like to take this opportunity to explain more fully the context in which Tuesday's sit-in took place. Jose Landino, a cook who works at the Hilton Long Beach Hotel in California, came to our campus this week to inform the Yale community of the conditions he faces under the management of HEI Hotels & Resorts. Yale invests in HEI, having contributed at least $120 million to the company over the past four years. Landino crossed the country to represent the international union UNITE HERE, which is working with him and his fellow workers to organize a union at Long Beach...
Union rights fight comes to college campuses (Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/21/08)

The next battle over union rights is being fought on college campuses. That fight extends to Penn, which appears to be invested in HEI Hotels and Resorts, a company that buys and manages hotels and is being accused of creating poor conditions for workers...
Waiting for Swensen (Yale Daily News, 11/19/08)

It was not your average sit-in. Yale Police Department Chief James Perrotti, several raw parsnips and a California hotel worker converged outside the Yale Investments Office on Tuesday morning...
Baran: More to do to help workers (Yale Daily News, 11/17/08)

Now that we've finally elected a pro-worker president, progressives can take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief — but only a moment. Fortunately, President-elect Barack Obama supports the Employee Free Choice Act, the drastic overhaul of labor law that passed the House but stalled in the Senate last year. With the outcome in three critical Senate races still up in the air, and the need to reach 60 votes in favor of the bill to pass it, the act's future remains uncertain...
Student concerns drive UA meeting (Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/11/08)
Student labor activists take on hotel chain for practices (The Brown Daily Herald, 10/29/08)

Elizabeth Martinez has worked at the Hilton in Long Beach, Calif., for 11 years. She said her job used to be "really a pleasure," but when HEI Hotels and Resorts bought the hotel four years ago, they laid off many workers and stretched the remaining staff thin...
Student labor activists take on hotel chain for practices (Hotel Waitress Protests Conditions: University endowments fund company accused of unfair management, 10/29/08)

Elizabeth Martinez, a hotel worker from California, shared her experiences as an employee and a labor organizer with Harvard students in a discussion yesterday organized by the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement...
Students present letter to Jenkins' office calling for divestment from HEI Hotels (Notre Dame Observer, 10/10/08)

As concerned Notre Dame students, we write on an issue that we believe warrants immediate and prudent attention from Fr. John Jenkins and his administration. We are inspired by the words of our University's Mission statement, which asserts: "the University seeks to cultivate in its students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings but also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice and oppression that burden the lives of so many"...
Students present letter to Jenkins' office calling for divestment from HEI Hotels (Notre Dame Observer, 10/10/08)

Socially conscious students gathered on the steps of the Main Building Thursday afternoon to deliver a personal letter to University President Fr. John Jenkins demanding that the University divest its funds from HEI Hotels and Resorts...

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