Before taking HRT 3500, I understood the basic idea of unions, but I had never fully seen how much they impacted everyday work. That changed when I realized that the hotel where I worked operated with two completely different labor systems: almost every department was unionized, except one small department where I worked. I had never thought much about that difference until I witnessed how a single management decision, an attempted AI monitoring tool, played out in union departments compared to my own. Seeing that contrast made everything we learned about collective bargaining, employee voice, and workplace fairness feel real rather than theoretical. One morning, while grabbing a late lunch in the employee cafeteria, I noticed union representatives speaking with groups of housekeepers. The conversations appeared serious, and by the next day, the entire department was celebrating. I later learned what had happened: management had attempted to introduce an AI tool through carts or wa...
Sexual harassment in hospitality is often described as “part of the job,” especially for frontline workers such as housekeepers, servers, and front-desk staff. However, this belief reflects a long-standing failure, not a workplace reality that employees should accept. Hospitality roles require workers to interact directly with guests in private or semi-private spaces such as guest rooms, hallways, and service corridors. Despite this heightened risk, many hospitality businesses still lack effective reporting systems, consistent training, and protective technologies. As a result, harassment remains one of the most underreported and poorly addressed forms of workplace harm. The issue is especially severe in hotels. Housekeepers frequently work alone in guest rooms, with no witnesses and no ability to call for help if a guest acts inappropriately. According to surveys from UNITE Here and the Chicago hotel workers union, more than half of female housekeepers have experienced some form of se...