May this be a year of justice and equity for Hyatt workers
At the Chicago interfaith service for striking Hyatt workers on September 14, 2011, Rabbi Brant Rosen recited an alternative version of the High Holy Day prayer Avinu Malkeinu that he rewrote in honor of Hyatt workers. His prayer concluded with: "Avinu Malkeinu, may this be the year we bring justice and equity for the workers of Hyatt; Avinu Malkeinu, may this be the year we bring justice and equity for all who labor throughout the land." He also sang Pitchu Li, Psalm 118:19, "Open up for me the gates of justice so I may enter and praise the Holy One," which clergy sang together outside the first Hyatt shareholder meeting and that inspired the title of the clergy report on working conditions at Hyatt hotels.
Text of Rabbi Brant Rosen's High Holy Day Prayer Avinu Malkenu
Avinu Malkeinu, help us to stand with our brothers and sisters who seek a fair wage, safe working conditions and a secure future;
Avinu Malkeinu, help us to remain firm as we hold the Hyatt corporations such to account.
Avinu Malkeinu, remind us that all workers are worthy of respect and dignity;
Avinu Malkeinu, remind us that those who do the work of hospitality are doing sacred work.
Avinu Malkeinu, let us never waver in our support for those who seek to organize unions in their workplaces;
Avinu Malkeinu, let us never falter in our support of power equity and collective bargaining.
Avinu Malkeinu, bring healing and comfort to those workers who have been needlessly injured on the job;
Avinu Malkeinu, bring the truth of their suffering out of the darkness and into the light of day.
Avinu Malkeinu, we say shame on the kind of employer who would turn heat lamps on striking workers;
Avinu Malkeinu, we say it’s time to turn up the heat on the Hyatt corporation until it treats its workers with decency and respect.
Avinu Malkeinu, help us to remind Hyatt that workers are not commodities to be acquired and discarded;
Avinu Malkeinu, help us insist that Hyatt cease outsourcing its jobs to subcontractors.
Avinu Malkeinu, let us remind Hyatt that its ownership does not extend to public sidewalks and passways;
Avinu Malkeinu, let us remind the world that the right to freely assemble is a basic and inalienable right.
Avinu Malkeinu, we stand with all who have become vulnerable during these years of economic hardship;
Avinu Malkeinu, we stand with the poor, the unhoused, the uninsured, the undocumented.
Avinu Malkeinu, we stand with all workers, the ones who make our beds, serve our food, police our streets or teach our children;
Avinu Malkeinu, we will stand up against all those who would demean the sacred cause of worker justice.
Avinu Malkeinu, may this be the year we bring justice and equity for the workers of Hyatt;
Avinu Malkeinu, may this be the year we bring justice and equity for all who labor throughout the land.