Marriott Workers Struggle to Pay Bills, and Credit Union Fees

But even so, he often falls short. The August statement for Mr. Ramirez Paredes’s credit union account shows more than $800 in overdraft fees so far this year. Mr. Newton said that overdraft fees had declined by nearly 10 percent between 2013 and last year, and that he believed such cases were unusual.

Workers like Mr. Ramirez Paredes and Mr. Troyah say their financial problems are heightened by Marriott’s decision to rely more on temps and less on full-time employees, who have seen their hours cut back and their annual earnings fall. According to Rachel Gumpert, a spokeswoman for Unite Here, the union that represents the company’s striking workers, a central issue in the dispute is that workers are having to hold down multiple jobs to support themselves because they aren’t receiving enough hours at the hotel chain.

Mr. Ramirez Paredes says that even though he is considered a full-time employee, he is frequently assigned to work only three or four days per week, sometimes as little as one day. (If his hours in a six-month period fall too much, he will lose his full-time status.) Mr. Troyah’s W-2 forms show that his income declined from about $34,000 in 2016 to about $28,000 in 2017 because, he says, Marriott cut his hours.

Both men said that they had asked their managers why they didn’t receive more hours, and that the managers had told them business was slow. But that claim was at odds with the presence of workers dispatched from staffing firms. Marriott declined to comment.

The Math of the Mini-Loan

Lekesha Wheelings, who has worked as a line cook at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown for the past 12 years, says that she makes just over $19 an hour, but that she, too, is sometimes sent home early and ends up with fewer than 40 hours per week.

Ms. Wheelings, who lives with her eldest daughter and supports twin 17-year-old children, said she made nearly $45,000 in 2016, but only about $39,500 last year because she worked less.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/business/marriott-credit-union-employee-strike.html?partner=rss&emc=rss