Hunts Point News: Working Girls Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering in La...

Hunts Point News: Working Girls Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering in La...: Working Girls Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering in Labor Dispute Northeast Bronx Hot-Sheet Motel Battle Over Wages, Bedbugs, and Postin...

Working Girls Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering in Labor Dispute

Working Girls Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering in Labor Dispute

Northeast Bronx Hot-Sheet Motel Battle Over Wages, Bedbugs, and Posting Pix on Internet

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 23- Workers continue to picket a local hot-sheet motel as a labor dispute will soon enter a fifth-month.

The 18 employees of the Capri Whitestone Hotel along the Hutchinson River Parkway near Ferry Point Park, have been demonstrating outside the hotel since early January after their contract expired.

Workers charge that on March 3, the owner slashed the housekeepers’ pay from $24.80 to $10.92 an hour and eliminated their health and retirement benefits.

 (A hotel guest hides the face of his date as they arrive at the Capri Whitestone Hotel.--Photo courtesy of the New York Hotel and Motel Trade Council) The workers clean and maintain 95 rooms that can be rented for a 4-hour stay or by the night. Rooms can cost as little as $55 for a four-hour stay and as much as $120 per night.

With the blessing of organizers at the New York Hotel and Motel Trade Council, on March 20 union members began the unusual step of snapping photos of patrons who crossed their picket line and posting those pictures at the website www.Dontcrosstheline.com.

Fellow union members who have joined the picket line in solidarity with Capri Whitestone workers, are also armed with an air horn and bullhorn to disturb the peace and quiet that those who decided to cross the picket line, had sought.

The union has filed several grievances with the National Labor

Relations Board, including management cutting pay of unionized workers and workers charge-- are violating the National Labor Relations Act.

Those charges are still being investigated.

On April 9 an arbitrator ruled that management must protect workers with hazmat suits to protect them from a bedbug infestation at the hotel.

Workers claim that the bedbug outbreak was caused by management’s refusal of washing the bedspreads after every visit.

Room attendant Venus Burgos, a 12-year employee at the Capri Whitestone, said of her plight, "I'm a single mom. I have three kids to support. I've always known the most important things I can give me children are love and education."

Burgos added, "But with an almost $14 an hour wage cut and no medical, I'm not sure I can even pay for my rent, let alone my children’s education."

Workers and union officials say they are prepared to stick it out for as long as the battle takes.

Calls for comment from the management of the Capri Whitestone Hotel were not immediately returned.   

Hunts Point News: Cardinal Dolan Visits Sick in Bronx

Hunts Point News: Cardinal Dolan Visits Sick in Bronx: Cardinal Dolan Visits Sick in Bronx BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 16- The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, celebrated Mass ...

Cardinal Dolan Visits Sick in Bronx

Cardinal Dolan Visits Sick in Bronx

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 16- The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, celebrated Mass recently at Calvary Hospital for more than 140 patients, families, employees, and special guests. Afterwards His Eminence visited with many patients and their visitors. He also visited the Hospital’s Kosher Hospitality Room and Shabbos Lounge. Cardinal Dolan serves as honorary chairman of Calvary Hospital.

In 2012, Calvary and Yeshiva University’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) announced a pioneering collaboration to provide rabbinic consultation to the observant Jewish community about end-of-life care in accordance with Jewish law. Several representatives from Yeshiva University were on hand to meet with the Archbishop including Edward R. Burns, M.D., Executive Dean, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and Rabbi Menachem Penner, Dean of RIETS. Each year, the Hospital cares for hundreds of Jewish patients at their Bronx hospital, 25-bed Brooklyn Satellite at Lutheran Medical Center, as well as with home care and home hospice throughout the greater New York area.

Calvary Hospital is the nation’s only fully accredited acute care specialty hospital devoted exclusively to providing palliative care to adult advanced cancer patients. A 225-bed facility with locations in the Bronx and Brooklyn, Calvary is the model for the relief of cancer pain and symptoms for more than a century. More than 6,000 patients are cared for annually by Calvary’s inpatient, outpatient, home, hospice, nursing home hospice, and wound care services. To learn more or sign up for the e-newsletter, Calvary Life, please go to www.calvaryhospital.org.

Hunts Point News: Sedar hailed as a success

Hunts Point News: Sedar hailed as a success: Sedar hailed as a success BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 16- Almost 30 persons participated in the community Seder sponsored by Temple Hati...

Sedar hailed as a success

Sedar hailed as a success

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 16- Almost 30 persons participated in the community Seder sponsored by Temple Hatikva this past Sunday evening at the synagogue. The Seder was conducted by Cantor Kyle Cherry and Rabbi Harry Hertzberg, and all participants read from the special “Hatikva Haggadah”, retelling the story of Passover (the Exodus from Egypt) and singing special holiday songs.

Directly after the Seder, a Kosher Passover feast was served, including chicken soup with matza balls, chopped liver, salad, roast chicken, potato & noodle kugels and traditional Passover desserts.

It was a wonderful evening, with everyone enjoying the traditional Passover foods during the Seder, including Shmura Maztza, bitter herbs and charoset.

Cantor Kyle thanked all those in attendance for their wonderful participation. He noted:“Everyone took part in this beautiful Seder.

It was a pleasure to hear all these voices enthusiastically sing the

traditional Passover songs.”

Rabbi Harry added: “We are grateful to the Bronx Jewish Community Council and its Executive Director Brad Silver for partnering with us in bringing this magnificent event to our friends and neighbors. This Seder was truly a joint effort of the Jewish community and was a great success!”

Temple Hatikva is located at 2440 Esplanade, Bronx, NY. For more information about Temple Hatikva or any of our programs, please call Temple Hatikva at (917) 453-7557 or contact us at

TempleHatikva@aol.com.

Hunts Point News: Yankees Sock it to Boston

Hunts Point News: Yankees Sock it to Boston: Yankees Sock it to Boston Yanks Put to Rest Some Questions with Dominance of Red Sox, Ejection of Manager John Farrell By Ric...