A candid-camera style labor protest has put a chill on would-be lovers at a hot-sheets motel in the Bronx.
About 20 employees of the Capri Whitestone Motel, much to the chagrin of its short-stay clientele, are picketing the business to protest a crippling cut in salary and benefits, union leaders said.
The message is delivered in a flash — an amateur paparazzi snaps pictures of customers who cross the picket line on their way to ignoring the lines of decency.
“Say Cheese!” reads a sign near the camera and a towering inflatable rat in the motel parking lot. “Don’t be a dirty rat. Don’t cross our picket line.”
The photos — one potential customer flipped the bird, another covered his head with a leather jacket — are then posted on http://ift.tt/1o9Ftrc.
The gotcha shots appear beneath the heading “Walk of Shame.”
“I’ve never seen an employer take as aggressive and heartless an action as this,” said Richard Moroko, attorney for the New York Hotel and Motel Trade Council, which represents thousands of workers across the city.
“It is really stunning,” he continued Friday. “To have your paycheck slashed by 60% overnight is hard enough. But to put on top of that the loss of your health benefits, that’s heartless.”
On Friday afternoon, three cars left the lot without checking into the hotel after a union rep explained their position and the shaming-photo policy that launched on March 20. Union officials say they have used the aggressive tactic before — but it is rare.
I’ve never seen an employer take as aggressive and heartless an action as this.
“Most people refuse to cross the line,” said union vice president George Padilla as he manned the camera. “It has been very effective. We’ve been turning away a massive amount of business.”
Union officials charge motel owner Ankoor Naik cut the salary of room attendants from $ 24.80 an hour to just $ 10.92 an hour — and eliminated all health and retirement benefits after their contract expired in January. A security guard at the hotel said neither the owner nor the manager were available Friday to respond, and a phone message left for Naik was not returned.
The workers staff the picket line and the camera before and after their shifts or during their breaks.
Rooms at the hotel rent in four-hour blocks for a rate of $ 55-$ 65, while overnight stays run from $ 100-$ 120.
The workers say the motel’s high guest turnover and frisky visitors create some challenging cleanups. One employee found a woman bound and naked under a mattress. Another recalled a worker catching heat from the owner over a condom left dangling from a light fixture.
Six-year union veteran Paula Anmparo, 42, said the money crunch caused by the website photos should drive management back to the bargaining table.
“This will force the owner to work with the union,” she said. “Business is way down.”
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