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9-29-09, 9:57 am
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 24SEPTEMBER09 – Over a thousand San Francisco hotel workers and their community supporters demonstrated in Union Square, in the heart of the city's tourist district. The luxury hotel chains demand that workers pay for the health care benefits they currently have under their union contract. The contract expired in June, and the workers' union, UNITE HERE Local 2, is trying to negotiate a new agreement. Lupe Chavez, a housekeeper at the San Francisco Hilton, marches in front of the Hyatt Hotel. Lucy Wong marches in front of the St. Francis Hotel, where she works as a housekeeper. During their protests, hotel workers and their supporters sit in at the entrances of the St. Francis and the Hyatt Union Square. Later, inside the lobby of the Hyatt, those who sat in were then arrested in an act of civil disobedience, intended to dramatize their demand for a fair contract.
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(All photos by David Bacon)
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