Joey Quits (worker quits job w/ marching band at Renaissance Providence Hotel)

Support workers standing up to abuses at this hotel, the Renaissance Providence: http://signon.org/sign/support-renais...
Support our effort to end tip theft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-97eXc...

Visit http://www.joeyquits.com for more info on our campaigns and to hear stories from other hotel and restaurant workers!

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Email joeyquits@gmail.com for press or info on submitting a story

Video of Joey L DeFrancesco quitting the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel Filmed by Jori Ketten, featuring the What Cheer? Brigade
http://www.whatcheerbrigade.com

I want to give a little context for the many of you who don't know me:

I worked in this hotel for 3.5 years. I worked while going to school full time to pay my tuition and living expenses. This was not a job I had for two weeks before quitting in a hissy-fit.

The working conditions in the hotel are horrendous. In the kitchen, workers are regularly forced to work 10, 11, 14, 16 hour shifts that begin at 5:30AM and last well into the night. Housekeepers are reprimanded if they fail to clean 16 rooms or more in a 9 hour shift. Anyone who speaks up—especially anyone who is openly pro-union—is disciplined or fired. Managers, like Jared, scream down employees daily.

I worked extremely hard to change the conditions in the hotel. My co-workers and I regularly organized ourselves to push back against management and demand respect. I was also one of many workers who led the fight to organize a formal union at the hotel. For legal reasons I must mention that this specific action was an individual decision and had nothing to do with the union.

The hotel has yet to recognize our union, and they continue a vicious union-busting campaign. They punish and fire pro-union workers, spread lies in captive-audience meetings, and generally attempt to scare the workers out of joining the union. Still, through just being organized and threatening to form a union, we've won countless victories, including raises, new uniforms, lower housekeeper room quotas, etc.

This video is a hilarious byproduct of a long and ongoing struggle in the Renaissance Providence and hotels throughout the country.

© Copyright 2011 Jori Ketten / Joey DeFrancesco / The What Cheer? Brigade

Contact: joeyquits@gmail.com

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[Bridget tweeter]

YEA JOEY YOU are awesome for all of us who cant quit and dont have a marching band even if we could. And YEA I saw you on 20/20

[Joey DeFrancesco]

Thanks for all the support everyone who saw the 20/20 segment! Please also check out the other videos in the description/channel page to see what the workers are doing to fight back at this hotel and to learn about our campaign to end tip theft!

[pessa jela]

The best part of the video is your boss's immediate reaction to seeing something out of place. Instead of being remotely polite or human, he instantly loses his shet. The video entirely justifies your manner of quitting in that one moment... any future employer shouldn't hold it against you. Way to go!

[Aca Faca]

Zeni nam se Vukota, zenom zvanom Ljubica iz Futoga, bice mnogo zvanica iz razlicitih ekonomskih zajednica! :D :D :D

[gerabrit]

I just lost 2 minutes of my precious lunch time... what a douche and an attention whore u are

[Gowfwaf]

And now you are homeless?

[ExpertiseMarksman]

I just saw this on 20/20. . .

[Royce Ardery]

GOOD for you

[Royce Ardery]

You can tell you boss was a real ass hole lol

[Sergio Bana]

Ok, I have to say, it was kinda lame.....If you were going to go through all of that trouble you should have stuck around and sung him a little song telling him to fuck off. Me personally, I would have stuck around until the cops came and just got in his face constantly, I would not have let him walk away. I would have taken the marching band and followed him around singing to him 'your a dickhead'. As a matter of fact, I would have waited for him to throw the first punch...

[James Weaver]

Good for you ............but I must say that I am surprised that your boss did not call the police and have you and your band arrested for trespassing. He looks like just enough of a D-head to do such a thing.

[Daragh Carter]

F... That hotel.

[runeplatoon]

So much win!