More than 400 hospitality workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel will receive health care coverage through the end of September, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Tuesday, a day after the employees’ union released a report that found the city’s convention agency had ample funds to extend the expiring benefits.
Health insurance for the hotel employees was set to lapse at the end of July, according to a Turner spokeswoman. Many have failed to accumulate the hours needed to qualify for health benefits since being furloughed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement issued by Unite Here Local 23, secretary-treasurer Willy Gonzalez said the extension would cover 450 workers “during a critical moment in this global pandemic.”
“Today is an important victory for hospitality workers at the hotel owned by Houston First Corporation,” Gonzalez said. “We are deeply thankful to Mayor Turner and the members of Houston City Council who have been willing to stand with these workers during this public health and economic crisis."
Turner’s announcement came near the start of a Houston city council meeting reserved for comments from the public. Some 75 people, the vast majority of whom are Hilton employees, were signed up to voice concerns about the expiring health coverage; many instead thanked Turner for the extension.
Nearly all the public speakers were Latino, the group hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than any other racial or ethnic group in Houston.
Bill Guillen, a communications operator at the Hilton, was one of dozens of employees to thank Turner and council members for the extended coverage. Guillen uses his benefits to pay for diabetes medication and other medical costs.
“This pandemic has been hard on all the hospitality workers that work at the Hilton,” he said. “We’ve been laid off for over four months now, and it’s been very hard to worry about your insurance possibly going to end at the end of this month.”
Unite Here Local 23, which represents Houston hospitality workers, released a study Monday that found health care costs for Houston First hotel employees totaled $1.09 million during the first quarter of the year, a fraction of the $46 million in cash reserves Houston First officials said the agency maintained as of mid-June.
The report also found that 19 of the top 30 earners at Houston First are white, compared to six Latinos and two African Americans. There are 34 white employees at the agency who make an annual salary of more than $100,000 per year, the study found, while only 10 Latino and four Black employees make six figures.
Hilton employees are covered under a contract that renews every 30 days on a rolling basis, unless either side revokes the contract, according to a Unite Here spokesman.
Houston First officials were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
The agency has come under scrutiny several times this year, beginning with an audit commissioned by the city controller’s office that raised questions about the way Houston First awards contracts and makes purchases for the facilities it oversees. The agency failed in recent years to inform some companies how their contract bids would be evaluated and at one point awarded a deal for more than $400,000 without seeking any competitive bids, the auditors found.
In late March, Houston First announced it would furlough more than half its 200-plus employees due to an abrupt drop in revenue from canceled events.
Near the end of June, workers at the Hilton and adjoining George R. Brown Convention Center began expressing unease about the Texas Republican Party’s convention, which was scheduled for mid-July at the George R. Brown. The party moved its convention online after Turner ordered Houston First to cancel the event and the party mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to the mayor and the agency.
Brenda Bazan, the president and chief executive of the agency, announced last week she is retiring in August.
jasper.scherer@chron.com
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