CWA Backs New Orleans Hospitality Workers

Earlier this month, CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens wrote a letter expressing concern about the New Orleans Convention Center's lack of response to members of UNITE HERE Local 23 and other community groups who have been seeking aid and relief for laid-off New Orleans hospitality workers as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

CWA is scheduled to hold its 78th annual convention at the New Orleans convention center in August 2021.

"The convention center should not be allowing $184 million in unrestricted net assets to sit unused while workers in New Orleans face layoffs, food shortages, and evictions," Steffens wrote. "This conflict must be resolved in order for our convention next year to proceed as scheduled."

On Wednesday, the Convention Center's board approved a $1 million donation to support the hospitality workers. While this amount is insufficient to address the crisis, in an article in The Times-Picayune, Bo Delp, UNITE HERE Local 23's Senior Political Organizer, noted that there had been no response at all from the Convention Center's management until they received CWA's letter.