More than 1,000 Providence Voters Call for Hotel Worker Min. Wage

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

GoLocalProv Business Team

Providence hotel workers and community allies will initiate the process to pass a $15.00 minimum wage for Providence hotel workers on Thursday at 3:30 PM.

The hotel workers and allies will submit more than 1,000 signatures they gathered in just over one week to the Providence City Clerk’s Office in support of the hotel worker minimum wage, the required amount to bring the ordinance to the Providence City Council.

Hotel workers and community activists have canvassed Providence neighborhoods to collect signatures for the proposed ordinance, receiving an overwhelmingly positive response. With upwards of 1,000 hotel workers in Providence, the raised minimum wage would lift up Providence neighborhoods citywide, providing workers money that can be spent in local businesses and invested in their homes.

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Santa, a housekeeper at the Renaissance Hotel, said, “Right now I live paycheck to paycheck and can barely afford the bare necessities. With this new minimum wage, I will be able to shop and support small business in my neighborhood. No one on my block has any disposable income right now, so we suffer just like the business owners in our community.”

Based on an average of Providence hotel housekeeper’s wages, the raised minimum wage would amount to a mere $1.85 per room cleaned. Yilenny Ferraras, a housekeeper at the Hilton said this would be a small price to pay to lift up entire Providence communities. “We work very hard for billionaire corporations who pay us incredibly little. If I received just a dollar and change more per room, my whole life and my whole neighborhood would change for the better.”

The City of Providence must validate the signatures upon their submission, after which the Providence City Council will have seventy days to consider the ordinance. “We hope the City will not delay in bringing this Ordinance to the City Council so that we can consider the ordinance. From talking to hundreds of people in Providence, this is an incredibly important issue for our city that quickly deserves the City’s attention,” explained Southside Councilwoman Carmen Castillo.

The push to raise the hotel worker minimum wage comes amidst a dual crisis in the City of Providence. Local businesses have struggled to sustain themselves amidst the national economic recession, with potential community shoppers wielding less and less dispensable income to spend. Moreover, local workers have launched protests at downtown Providence hotels in the past year, citing abysmal pay and working conditions.

Related Slideshow: The Top 30 Highest Paid State Contractors in RI

Below is the list of the top 30 highest paid private contractors for the state of Rhode Island, ranked from least to greatest. Each contractor is identified along with a summary of services that were provided and the department or state agency that hired them. Because contractors will often be hired to offer multiple services or work on numerous projects in a given year, only a basic summary of their work is provided. In cases where a contractor worked for several departments, only a representative sample is listed. The ranking of top contractors excludes payments to other government entities, like cities and towns, as well as quasi-public agencies like the Economic Development Corporation.

More than 1,000 Providence Voters Call for Hotel Worker Min. Wage

Related Slideshow: The Top 30 Highest Paid State Contractors in RI

#30

Aetna Bridge Company

#29

Tri-Town Community Action Agency

#28

Commonwealth Land Title and Insurance Co.

#27

U.S. Bank National Association

#26

Hess Corp.

#25

Commonwealth Engineers & Consultants, Inc.

#24

Measured Progress, Inc.

#23

Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.

#22

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.

#21

Adil Business Systems, Inc.

#20

Deloitte Consulting, LLP

#19

Manafort Brothers, Inc.

#18

Northern Construction Service, LLC

#17

J. H. Lynch & Sons, Inc.

#16

Morneau & Murphy

#15

Wakely Consulting Group

#14

Delta Dental of Rhode Island

#13

Newport Grand Jai Alai, LLC

#12

International Game Technology

#11

Wells Fargo Bank NA

#10

Narr. Electric Co./National Grid

#9

First Student Inc.

#8

D'Ambra Construction Co., Inc.

#7

Noresco, LLC

#6

S & R/Pihl A Joint Venture, LLC

#5

HP Enterprise Services, LLC

#4

GTECH Corporation

#3

Cardi Corporation

#2

Bank of New York Trust Company

#1

United Healthcare

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