STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 9 February 2012

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24. New York hotel workers' contract calls for panic buttons

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-hotel-button-20120208,0,6246718.story

New York hotel operators and their employees tentatively agreed to a new contract that will bring workers lucrative pay raises, full paid benefits, and sizable pension contributions.

All that -- and a personal panic button.

In the wake of a hotel sexual assault scandal surrounding French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Lisa Linden, a spokeswoman for the Hotel Assn. of New York City, said there was “joint recognition” that hotel workers need protection.

“It’s something that has certainly been talked about for some time,” Linden said, adding that the Strauss-Kahn situation in New York “heightened the awareness of the issue.”

John Turchiano, a spokesman for the New York Hotel Trades Council, said that over the years there have been problems with hotel guests acting inappropriately. Turchiano said that such incidents don’t happen often, but cited examples of mini-bar attendants being asked if they would like to “make a little money” and hotel guests lying naked in bed when a housekeeper enters the room.