The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is in something of a quandary. Their annual meeting will be held in San Francisco in less than a month. The problem is that 14 hotels, including the San Francisco Hilton where the conference will be held, have locked out 4,000 employees -- housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, telephone operators -- of Local 2 of UNITE HERE.
As the San Francisco Chronicle points out, this isn't just any "ordinary" strike. (The main issues that face the $26K/year employees are rising healthcare premiums and workweek hours, which is in a sense are "commonplace" demands.) While the union is overwhelmingly composed of immigrant workers (two-thirds are Asian and Latino) it is also demanding, in a so-called "civil-rights proposal," that "quality hotel jobs [be made] more accessible to San Francisco's African American community" -- a population that has been steadily declining in the hotel workforce. I'm sure you folks can see the implications here: a victory would mean the creation of a greater solidarity between more workers of color, as well as a disruption of Management's over-a-century-old tactic of pitting immigrants against African Americans.
As I write this, the AAA is scrambling to figure out what to do, and the debates among its members have become more and more heated. Breaking the contract with Hilton, signed in 1996, exposes the Association to possible financial damages of $1.2 million (and certainly more, because of legal fees). This is not to mention the 5,000-odd participants whose flights and hotels are booked (though I'm willing to bet they haven't written their presentation papers yet -- I have, ha ha). (One non-profit organization I'm familiar with promptly moved their event from one of the hotels (unfortunately to a non-unionized hotel), and is now having their lawyers contest the contract fees, which is in the few thousands.)
It has been suggested that one could still hold the conference at the Hilton, but to not buy food at the restaurants or stay in the rooms. Another alternative is to conduct the conference as usual, but to provide a special venue for the strikers in the conference (or for the participants to join the picketers as well, or to write -- I chuckle at this part -- a strongly-worded letter to the Hilton). Neither alternative seems very tenable, as they both entail crossing the picket lines; scabs will still be responsible for cleaning the conference rooms and filling the water pitchers and so on. Another solution is for different societies within the Association to decide among themselves to move their respective panels to alternative venues, but the ensuing chaos doesn't seem worth it. (San Jose has also been floated as a possible site, but finding 5,000 hotel rooms and the conference space -- not to mention paying the additional expenses on top of the impending Hilton fines -- seems impossible, certainly in less than a month's time.)
I write this from a somewhat lucky position: I live in San Francisco, and so I will not have to eat any airline tickets or hotel reservations. (For utterly selfish reasons, it's a bummer that I may not get to present my paper -- it's not very easy to get a paper accepted -- but that's just it: "a bummer.") While not all anthropologists are so lucky, some will hopefully have universities that will reimburse their expenses. But canceling the conference will send a powerful message to the hotels' Multi-Employer Group. I'm as cash-strapped as any Cal State assistant professor is, but my life is a lot more comfortable than a $26,000-a-year dishwasher now being paid $200 a week out of a strike fund, and if the membership has to absorb some of the damages, then so be it. (What sucks is that Hilton won't be losing very much money over this, and it doesn't necessarily help the union financially, unless the hotels' collective bargaining group see the light after AAA cancels and end the lockout before Thanksgiving.)
Some participants and members of the AAA have already threatened to cancel their association memberships if the conference continues at the Hilton. To cross the picket line seems to me, in this case, a violation of the AAA Code of Ethics, and I quote the relevant -- indeed, the basic -- section here:
Anthropological researchers have primary ethical obligations to the people, species, and materials they study and to the people with whom they work. These obligations can supersede the goal of seeking new knowledge, and can lead to decisions not to undertake or to discontinue a research project when the primary obligation conflicts with other responsibilities, such as those owed to sponsors or clients.I think the Association would do well to heed that reminder. If anthropologists are indeed obligated to seek social justice -- or at the very least, to remain the tiniest bit relevant to communities outside the academy, especially in an era where workers' rights both in this country and overseas are consistently and systematically eroded -- then I see no other recourse. Posted by the wily filipino at October 21, 2004 10:01 PM
I agree. This is an opportunity for anthropologists to walk the walk, as it were, to turn this strike into a teachable moment for society at large, to put their theories into practice. I get frustrated when academics talk so much about social justice, yet some don't actually do anything about it.
Posted by: ladygoat on October 22, 2004 06:25 AMThat they are even considering crossing the picket line, this allows me to reaffirm my decision to never join the AAA.
Though they have been known to take tough stands against the REALLY serious issues: in the 1990s they boycotted Hawaii as a conference venue (when I lived there and could not afford the costly travel to the mainland) because they claimed that the state's animal quarantine policy (to protect the delicate ecosystem which had never experienced rabies) discriminated against blind people who would need seeing-eye dogs. Talk about moronic.
Don't know if the boycott still stands and don't care. Hawaii's quarantine policy has been changed, though, to my knowledge: as long as you can prove your animal has all the shots they don't have to be quarantined.