The ‘Nightmarish’ Boston Hotel Where Workers Have To Deal with Vomit, Blood-Soaked Carpets, Needles

[marmar]

(In These Times) On June 25, workers at Boston’s Wyndham Beacon Hill took to the streets to protest unsafe working conditions, the culmination of an escalating fight over biohazards at the hotel. They charge that they’re routinely exposed to medical waste that endangers both them and, one worker alleges, guests. The hotel insists this is not the case. The fight over working conditions at the Wyndham highlights the myriad dangers hotel workers say they face on the job—some of which could be seriously detrimental to their health.

The hotel is located in the city’s West End district, a short walk from the historic city’s downtown and in the heart of Boston’s cluster of famous medical research and treatment facilities. That proximity is one of the hotel’s advertising points, as it invites guests to stay while they or family members are seeking treatment and recovering from medical procedures, even offering them a discount. It’s also the very thing that employees say may be endangering them. Workers filed an OSHA complaint in May alleging that the hotel exposes them to biohazards on a daily basis with inadequate protective equipment and an utter lack of protocols for handling such materials.

Workers report abysmal conditions that expose them to used sharps and other medical waste along with urine, vomit, blood and feces. The alleged ongoing problem and lack of response from hotel management led the non-union workers to begin organizing around the issue in 2014, reaching out to UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents hotel and other service workers, for assistance. While workers say they are considering unionization in the long term, their priority in the short term was getting safe working conditions and justice in the workplace.

Staffers at Local 26 were horrified by what workers told them. “In 30 years of dealing with the hotel industry,” President Brian Lang of Local 26 told In These Times, “I have never heard of such atrocious conditions as have been described by the workers who work there.” .....................(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18212/boston-wyndham-beacon-hill-hotel-biohazards

[hobbit709]

1. The workers need to start documenting.

Every time they go into a room with crap in it, take a picture.

[Shrike47]

2. Given the $200 plus per night rack rate, I'm amazed they are drawing that kind of clientele.

[Mnemosyne]

3. Not junkies, medical patients and families. nt

[xmas74]

4. But it said that they draw quite a number who have had medical procedures.

In other words, lots of plastic surgery.

I've looked into plastic surgery before over my stomach. (I could use muscle repair-really common among women with large birth weight babies. Mine's not severe though, so I've let it go for now.) Anyway, even clinics that do mostly outpatient expect the patients to stay very close by for several days-sometimes up to ten days.

There could be other procedures nearby but I'd bet there are quite a few plastic surgery patients staying there and I'd bet some of the bandage clean up alone could get pretty nasty.

[REP]

9. When I'm in KC, I stay at a hotel that has a lot of people in town for medical procedures

Cancer treatments, organ transplants, etc. I've never seen anyone there for a cosmetic surgery. The hotel is extremely clean though (and they know what to do in medical emergencies which works for me!).

[xmas74]

10. There are places that advertise just for plastic surgery.

I've looked around for surgeons that might run cheaper on some procedures than others and have found some offices that actually offer deals in conjunction with hotels and plastic surgeon offices. If you leave the country you can find great deals that include hotel stays or sometimes even resort stays with the surgery.

I didn't notice anything like that in KC but I wasn't looking, since I could easily drive there and back. (Or hire a transport for well under $100-far cheaper than a room.) I have noticed on Facebook pages for plastic surgery people mentioning that their surgery included the price of hotel in the deal, since they had traveled from other regions. (Lots of NYC and Dallas or Houston mentioned with those deals, along with some in Miami.)

[REP]

11. It was weird ...

I didn't realize that they had a lot of KU patients from out of town as their base clientele - it's just a cute hotel that's convenient to where I need to be when I'm there. Last time I was there, there was a number of organ transplant patients staying there as well as a fairly well-known band.

It's not a spa/luxury hotel (though they have excellent mattresses and a nice breakfast station). I think they have a partnership with a couple area hospitals and their other business is purely KC tourism-oriented. As I said, it was a little weird to see the combo of fellow guests!

[xmas74]

12. Some hospitals will make recommendations about where to stay.

It makes sense, since they usually pick places with good reputations that are close by or easy to access.

[Romulox]

5. Hotel jobs have just become "jobs Americans won't do!"; simply import some workers

who aren't so "uppity"!

[Boxerfan]

6. Are you really saying people should endanger thier lives-And not wanting to do so is being "Uppity"

Really should check your browser settings as I am very sure you are LOST.

[hatrack]

7. I think you might want to read between the lines for some . . .

[Romulox]

8. I've read the argument about "jobs Americans won't do!" dozens of times, right here on DU.

Usually it's with regard to agricultural jobs and other food production, such as slaughterhouses. Why wouldn't it apply everywhere there is a desire to pay people less, and to treat them poorly?

Thanks for the tip about the browser settings, though.