IMI's vision is to be one of the top Swiss Hotel Schools with a worldwide reputation for both academic quality and for developing lifelong learners who respond positively to diversity and who are equipped to take on key positions in the hospitality and tourism industry.
On Wednesday February 23, 2005, Provost Biddy Martin announced the four candidates for the position of Dean of the School of Hotel Administration, along with the dates of their on-campus interviews. Remaining cadidates are (1) Michael D. Johnson, Ph.D. , Rob Britton, Ph.D., Eli Jones, Ph.D. and Ajay Menon, Ph.D..
For Carmen Baker, the work she does today, in the recently created role of Carlson Hotels Worldwide's vice president of diversity, is an investment in her company's -- and society's -- future. "People should be free to be who they are," Baker said. At Carlson's most recent job-shadowing event, Baker noticed the diverse group of young participants who "didn't see color" like their employed mentors do. And she wants to ensure that tomorrow's hoteliers don't lose that color blindness when they enter the job market.
Workers at 14 upscale Washington hotels voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to approve a new contract, ending the threat of a strike during the presidential inauguration. Turnout was described as heavy, with 97% of the ballots cast in favor of the three-year deal. The agreement includes a $1.30-an-hour raise spread over the life of the agreement. Management will continue to cover all health care expenses for employees working the required number of hours, and will also increase its pension contributions.
Unionized hotel workers in San Francisco agreed to return to work following an eight-week lockout while contract negotiations continue, the mayor announced Saturday. About 4,000 maids, bellhops, cooks and other hourly wage earners will return to their jobs beginning Tuesday after being out of work since late September, Mayor Gavin Newsom said.
The operators of 14 hotels at the center of a protracted labor dispute ignored an ultimatum from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and refused to end their lockout of unionized employees. "We respectfully decline the mayor's request for a 90-day cooling-off period," Cornell Fowler, a spokesman for the hotel operators, said Tuesday after they delivered their message to Newsom.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom warned hotel operators that if they don't end their lockout by Tuesday night, he will join workers on the picket line, call for a boycott of the 14 hotels involved and urge other mayors to play hardball with the properties' corporate owners. Newsom, who previously had sought to appear neutral in the work stoppage that started Sept. 29, said Monday that if the lockout goes beyond a second week, he wouldn't hesitate to come to the aid of room cleaners, cooks, bellmen and other workers.
In the current hotel conflict, most attention has focused on the proposed contract length and the dispute over who pays health-care benefits. But another issue also separates the two sides -- civil rights and the relationship between African American and immigrant workers. For a decade, San Francisco's Unite Here Local 2 and Local 11 in Los Angeles have proposed and won language in their contracts protecting members from discrimination and firing because of immigration status.
Several thousand striking and locked out San Francisco union hotel workers met at Union Square on Tuesday to gather strength for a barbed labor dispute and hear the Rev. Jesse Jackson lead the rhythmic chant: "Save the workers. Save the family. Health care is a right. We will fight one day longer. We will not surrender.'' The stakes are considerable in the standoff between the hotel workers' union, Unite Here Local 2, and 14 San Francisco hotels that banded together for the purpose of negotiating a labor contract. Workers potentially face steep increases in health care premiums and the wage increases offered are considered inadequate by the union.
More than one in five hospitality workers plans to change jobs by the end of the year, says a survey by CareerBuilder.com. The poll paints a sobering picture of the employee state of mind. Some 29 percent of hospitality workers are dissatisfied with their jobs overall. Half of those polled cited an excessively heavy workload and 44 percent say they can't balance work and life demands. "The impending strikes by housekeepers, bellmen and other hospitality workers in several major U.S. cities highlights the dissatisfaction that exists among hospitality workers," said Diane Christopher, hospitality employment expert at CareerBuilder.com.
News Coverage of the San Francisco strike and contract negotiations between major hotel chains and the UNITE HERE union signals a possible wrinkle in plans for travelers to the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. When 10,000 workers strike and prepare for work stoppages, the focus on the potential inconvenience to consumers obscures the public good of the collective bargaining process. Collective bargaining is democracy in action at a time when America needs it most. We live in an era where companies have more control over our lives both on and off the clock. Corporate bottom lines dictate where we can afford to live, how much time we spend with our families, how we manage our health, and the quality of care we receive in our golden years.
As the strike between 10,000 casino-hotel union members and seven of the city's 12 gaming halls enters its fourth day today - the longest strike in the resort's casino history - many are beginning to wonder just how long it will last. And how much the standoff will end up costing. As the state's largest private employer, Atlantic City's casino industry plays a vital role in New Jersey's economy. The industry directly employs about 45,000, and an estimated 30,000 more jobs in the state are directly tied to the casinos, according to the state Labor Department.
In downtown San Francisco today, it sounds like one of the city's famous parades is happening -- but the whistles, drumbeats and chanting voices are anything but a tourist draw as a hotel strike and lockout continues. "It's disgusting," said New Yorker Christine Gorman of the ruckus, which woke her up around 6 a.m. when housekeepers, cooks, servers, bellmen, phone operators, dishwashers and others gathered for the fifth day to protest stalled contract negotiations.
The classroom is coming alive this week for future chefs and hoteliers competing in South Carolina's first high-school Hospitality Olympics. The high-schoolers are cooking up their own culinary creations and handling mock hotel reservations requests during the two-day competition at Horry-Georgetown Technical College's Grand Strand campus. "It brings it home more than reading it does. You'd rather do hands-on things," said Lashonda Jasper, a senior at North Myrtle Beach High School.
Area colleges and organizations are developing programs to meet the increasing demand for skilled managers in the food service and hospitality industries. Although there's been a huge drop in air travel in the two years since 9/11, there's been no downturn, despite a slowed economy, in Americans traveling by car, staying in hotels, motels or resorts or going to restaurants.