Posted on 05/11/2011 1:49:57 PM PDT by markomalley
“Next up for a vote... percale or Egyptian cotton.”
The thread count also needs to be regulated too. Also, the sheets must be made with renewable energy sources. California will create new jobs in the green sheets industry.
Have you ever tried drying more than one fitted sheet at a time? It’s a fiasco- they get all balled up in their own elastic and the corners never get dry. And after you do get them dry you may be able to fold them, but you’ll never get them neatly stacked....
http://www.onedaylongersf.org/wp-content/uploads/Nenita-300x296.jpg
Among the housekeepers filing complaints was Nenita Ibe, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Santa Clara for the past 10 years. Hyatt Santa Clara is a non-union hotel where workers are fighting to achieve a fair process to decide whether or not to form a union.
Nenita is a 68-year old widow and mother of 5. She came to the United States from the Philippines in 1996. Nenita remembers the exact moment she was injured on the job:
On September 4, 2009, I was making a bed at the Hyatt and I felt severe pain in my right shoulder and arm as I tucked in the sheets. I work with flat sheets and we have to push our whole arm under the mattress to make the bed correctly. I immediately reported this to the Housekeeping manager who asked me several times if I was sure I hurt myself at work. After I insisted that I never had this pain before, she directed me to go see a doctor. I went to all the therapy sessions, missing about 2 to 3 hours of work every time I went in for a check-up. I was assigned to do “light” duty – folding linen and towels, and cleaning shower curtains – which required me to use my injured arm and hands. I did not recover. I still work 8 hours a day cleaning rooms in painful anguish. I used to work with both arms and hands, but now I only have the full use of my left arm. I use my knee and left arm to lift the mattress to tuck in the sheets.
http://www.onedaylongersf.org/?p=1265
Now leaders like Kim Gandy, former President of NOW and current Vice-President and General Council for Feminist Majority, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) are joining women like Nenita Ibe in speaking out and shedding light on the plight of some of the most invisible members of our society. ”We have much to do in the realm of worker safety across the board – eight to twelve million workers suffer work-related injuries on an annual basis. These hard-working men and women are at risk due to overwork and other factors – factors that are readily preventable,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3). “We must do more to protect all our workers, and I am proud to stand with UNITE HERE today and say to Hyatt and other employers across the country that hotel workers will no longer tolerate being overworked and exploited at risk to their health.”
what are they going to do next, force hotels to have a larger toilet so that my poop would not clog it when i use it?
Nenita Ibe talks to Sen. Kevin de León, author of SB 432, which calls for hotels to use fitted sheets and long-handled cleaning tools to help workers avoid injuries from lifting and kneeling.
Ibe was one of several hotel housekeepers who testified Wednesday before the state Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, which voted 5-2 to pass a measure that advocates say will greatly reduce the amount of workplace injuries among hotel housekeepers.
The proponents cited a 2002 study by the University of California, Berkeley's Labor Occupation Health Program, which found a high level of injuries among housekeepers.
The California Hotel & Lodging Association and several other hospitality organizations opposed the bill, saying the fitted-sheet requirement alone will cost the industry about $15 million.
Knott said hotel operators nowadays provide ergonomic training for housekeepers and provide tools such as bed wedges that make it easier to lift mattresses.
These workers are lucky. I remember my first inspection. The Captain came in flipping a silver dollar. He flipped it onto my bunk, and that dollar just laid there. He grabbed the bunk (it was bunkbeds) and tipped it over into the middle of the floor. I told him that I could possibly have a worker’s comp case in the future. He kicked me in the ass.
Every time I tried to fold a fitted sheet, I started out great and finished up thinking “oh, what the h-—!”
Love your handle, 668.
Back in my single days, I did laundry in the local ‘mat. One day (I worked nights) I was struggling with a fitted sheet and from across the folding table came “THAT’S NOT HOW YOU DO IT.” Lady came over, took the sheet out of my hands, “Watch.” and folded it perfectly. I messed up and she said “NO, no, no, watch again!” and did it again. Once I learned how, she turned and walked away. I never got a word in I was so overwhelmed and never saw her again, but never forgot how either...
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