Workers rights at center of proposed ordinance

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Indianapolis City-County Council is set to vote on an ordinance Monday night that supporters say will help those in the hotel industry.

Ordinance 179 basically says that hotels cannot agree to stop the hiring of employees from a hotel cleaning service.

Opponents of the ordinance say that there is no blacklisting of employees.

24-Hour News 8 obtained a letter from the Indiana Hotel And Lodging Association that was delivered to councilors Friday. Parts of it reads:

"All of the downtown hotels that use staffing companies currently have openings for housekeeping positions.

There is no blacklisting. 

Proposal 179 will not help a single employee while falsely implying that the hotel industry engages in the practice of blacklisting.

We strongly object to this false characterization and being singled out in this way."

On the other side of the argument, supporters say that temporary workers are entered into a involuntary contract that prevents them from leaving to go to another hotel for permanent work, which essentially blacklists the temporary employee.

A rally that was held a couple of weeks ago during an Episcopal Church convention where members boycotted their hotel.

They argued that ordinance 179 will help employees get better paying jobs.

"Its kind of ridiculous and frustrating at the same time, because you hear a manager tell you that you can't work here when you work here its' like you're in servitude to this agency," said Fernando Gomez, a former employee of Hospitality Staffing Solutions.