City Councilors Urge Marriott to Investigate Worker Exploitation Claims

The Boston City Council last week calling on Marriott Copley Place to examine it's labor practices after allegations of worker exploitation.

The hotel is under investigation by Attorney General Martha Coakley for allegedly hiring out-of-state shelter workers and paying them less than minimum wage and under the table for construction work. over the last few weeks in light of the news.

“It is vitally important that we protect our wage laws and ensure our city’s residents have access to jobs in our city," said City Councilor At-Large Felix G. Arroyo, who led the effort. Arroyo lives in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain.

Representatives from Host Hotels & Resorts, the company that owns the Marriott Copley, declined an invitation to the hearing. Instead, an attorney for the company sent a letter assuring that they “have been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with all inquiries regarding this matter.”

The state’s office of Labor and Workforce Development was represented at the hearing and is performing an investigation into the allegations as well.

Mark Erlich, executive secretary-treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, said the Marriott Copley sets the standards for other hotels in the industry.

"When a high profile hotel like the Marriott Copley reaches to the bottom of the barrel, it threatens to lower the standards for workers in the entire construction community,” he said. “The Marriott Copley benefits from public investment in the hospitality industry; they should respect the standards that other private and public owners have established."

City Councilor Michael Ross, whose district includes the Copley Plaza, also expressed concern.

“At a time when there is double digit unemployment in the building trades," he said, "not only do we expect our area businesses to support the construction industry by employing Boston residents, but we also expect them to obey the law."