BY HANK REICHMAN

As a retired faculty member I don’t attend too many scholarly conferences these days, outside of the AAUP of course.  But I do still enjoy the annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) and plan to attend this year’s gathering in Boston, December 6-9.  But like more than a few others I’ve been concerned that the headquarters hotel, the Marriott Copley Place, may be picketed as part of the current strike by the hotel workers union, Unite Here, at some hotels in the chain.  It turns out that the Copley Place site is not on strike, but only it seems because it is not yet unionized.  I’m not comforted by this.

Those who make the beds, clean the toilets, bus the dishes, and otherwise serve scholars attending professional meetings break their backs (sometimes literally!) on the job for inadequate compensation and under increasingly difficult conditions.  Many work multiple jobs to make ends meet.  That is why I was thrilled when I received an email from a colleague inviting me to sign a petition calling on ASEEES to join Fair Hotel Partner, a group dedicated to ensuring that organizations that reserve hotels for conventions do not book where workers are on strike, and do book at hotels that are unionized.

Moving conferences at the last minute can be difficult — sometimes all but impossible — and quite costly, but taking a step like this will go far to ensure that such moves are not needed and that conference attendees do not have to make difficult choices between their consciences and their professional development.  It is a simple yet important way that we can demonstrate genuine and effective solidarity with other workers.  As the petition notes, “Becoming a Fair Hotel Partner will mean that ASEEES pledges to organize major events, in particular the Annual Convention, only at unionized hotels.  Alongside the pledge, ASEEES would insist on including protective language in any future event contract so that the association has the chance to cancel a contract in the case of a labor dispute.”

Scholarly organizations who have already signed the Fair Hotel pledge include the American Federation of Teachers, American Philosophical Association, the American Studies Association, California Faculty Association, California Teachers Association, Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California, Union of Concerned Scientists, and United Teachers Los Angeles.  (I don’t know if the AAUP has also signed, although I know that we have long required our meetings to be held at unionized hotels.) 

If you are an ASEEES member and have not yet signed this petition, please do so now by going here.  And let’s all encourage our disciplinary organizations to take this step as well, if they have not yet done so.  It’s really the least we can do.