Minneapolis City Council passes rule for hotels, event centers to recall laid-off workers

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed an ordinance on Friday that will require large hotel and event centers in the city to first recall their former workers who lost their jobs in the past year during the pandemic before hiring others.

Cities such as Baltimore, Los Angeles and Philadelphia have passed similar measures to protect hospitality workers, who have been disproportionately impacted with job losses during the pandemic.

At a committee hearing last week, Council Member Steve Fletcher said many employers are planning to rehire their workers, but this will give workers more peace of mind.

"We are providing people with a little bit of security and stability that I hope is a comfort as everybody waits for these industries to reopen," he said.

He noted at Friday's council meeting that about 12,000 workers will be affected by the ordinance.

Minneapolis' ordinance takes effect on May 1 and will cover hotels with more than 50 rooms and large event centers such as convention centers and sports stadiums. As business improves and employers are able to rehire workers, they will be required to first offer jobs to workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic before opening up those jobs to others. The mandate, which will be enforced by the city's civil rights department, will remain in effect for one year after the state's peacetime emergency and the city's local public health emergency end.

Wade Luneburg, political director for Unite Here!, a union that represents thousands of Twin Cities hospitality workers, said at the hearing that there are projections for a long recovery for the hotel industry that could continue into 2023 or 2024. He added that these job losses have affected women and people of color the most.

Several workers also spoke in support of the ordinance, sharing stories of how they have struggled to make ends meet on unemployment benefits and were hoping to return to their previous jobs, where many of them had worked for years.

However, Steve Cramer, president of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, raised concerns about the measure, arguing that "over-regulating this part of our economy will hinder and slow recovery." He also noted that because the measure would apply only within the city limits, it was another way to make doing business in the city more costly and complicated.

Similar right-to-recall legislation for hospitality workers has been proposed in the Minnesota Legislature. A bill has made it through a couple of committees in the Democratic-led House, while a companion bill in the Republican-led Senate has not yet had a hearing.

Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113 Twitter: @kavitakumar