Hotel Workers Fret Over a New Rival: Alexa at the Front Desk

In the 1960s and ’70s, dockworkers were walloped by one of the most revolutionary technical innovations of the 20th century: containers. At a stroke, containers slashed both the time and number of workers needed to load a ship, saving vast amounts of money.

Instead of trying to stop the big boxes, the union covering the longshoremen on the West Coast demanded a share of the spoils: rich retirement packages for workers who were let go, and hefty remuneration for those who stayed. As a result, longshoremen working full time, year round, now make $168,000 to $186,000 a year on average.

But you need a lot of power to get a deal like that. The longshore union could shut down ports at will, imposing huge costs on shippers. For workers lacking that kind of clout, the gains achieved by the longshoremen seem out of reach.

Unite Here is not powerless. Nationwide, only 7.6 percent of workers in the accommodation industry are unionized, according to government statistics. But in San Francisco, for instance, Unite Here represents 89 percent of workers at Class A hotels. That’s partly why housekeepers in San Francisco make $22.64 an hour, the union notes, more than double the national median of $10.09.

Unite Here’s victories so far have been hard won. “It was not an easy ask,” Mr. Taylor said of the language on technology in the Las Vegas deals. “It does infringe on hotels’ right to do what they want.”

The outcome might or might not deliver a greater share of the gains from technology to workers. But front-desk clerks and concierges will have better options than severance when Alexa or computer software takes over some of their tasks. “It was a good resolution,” Mr. Taylor said. “Time will tell if it is good enough.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/economy/hotel-workers-ai-technology-alexa.html?partner=rss&emc=rss