Woodfin hotel workers score victory in epic struggle for back wages

In a struggle that will continue to inspire other workers to never give up, some 50 former and current housekeepers have won $200,000 in back wages from Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville, Calif.

Woodfin workers have been picketing and rallying for three years to win their back wages.

The workers’ victory comes after three years of determined effort with the help of community and labor support. Woodfin had challenged the 2005 passage of Emeryville’s Measure C, which guaranteed workers a living wage, claiming the law was unconstitutional because it mandated how a business should be organized.

When the workers—primarily immigrant women—demanded wages that were due them under the new law, Woodfin responded by firing many of them and calling in Homeland Security and ICE agents to threaten those who stood up for their rights.

In the latest round of city hall hearings that began in November 2008, the Woodfin completely changed its story to claim that the housekeepers were not owed their full wages because supervisors helped them clean by using “their eyes and their heads.” On Jan. 15, in a hearing room packed with the Woodfin workers and their supporters, the Emeryville City Council rejected the Woodfin’s anti-worker logic and upheld the City Manager’s back-wage order.

According to the East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy, picket lines will continue at the Woodfin until the workers have the checks in their hands.