Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Here is a YouTube video of a guy who quit his hotel job before being fired. When watching the video and reading the text to it, I realized that music is even happening when you want to quit a job. And this what DooBeeDoo is about: to make its readers aware that music can be used in every situation, if you feel so, although some imagination and sensitivity might be needed.
Here is Joe’s story
I want to give a little context for the many of you who don’t know me:
I worked in this hotel for 3.5 years. I worked while going to school full time to pay my tuition and living expenses. This was not a job I had for two weeks before quitting in a hissy-fit.
The working conditions in the hotel are horrendous. In the kitchen, workers are regularly forced to work 10, 11, 14, 16 hour shifts that begin at 5:30 am and last well into the night. Housekeepers are reprimanded if they fail to clean 16 rooms or more in a 9 hour shift. Anyone who speaks up—especially anyone who is openly pro-union—is disciplined or fired. Managers, like Jared, scream down employees daily.
I worked extremely hard to change the conditions in the hotel. My co-workers and I regularly organized ourselves to push back against management and demand respect. I was also one of many workers who led the fight to organize a formal union at the hotel. For legal reasons I must mention that this specific action was an individual decision and had nothing to do with the union.
The hotel has yet to recognize our union, and they continue a vicious union-busting campaign. They punish and fire pro-union workers, spread lies in captive-audience meetings, and generally attempt to scare the workers out of joining the union. Still, through just being organized and threatening to form a union, we’ve won countless victories, including raises, new uniforms, lower housekeeper room quotas, etc.
This video is a hilarious byproduct of a long and ongoing struggle in the Renaissance Providence and hotels throughout the country.
© Copyright and filmed 2011 Jori Ketten / Video of Joey L DeFrancesco featuring the What Cheer? Brigade
Contact: joeyquits@gmail.com
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