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Half of all Seattle hotel workers surveyed report experiencing sexual harassment or assault on the job. Fifty-two housekeepers reported 262 total incidents, including being flashed, groped, and asked for sexual favors. That harassment disproportionately hits women and people of color. Of non-management hotel workers, a majority are immigrants and people of color, according to Puget Sound Sage. More than 80 percent of housekeepers are women.
Hotel work requires being alone in confined spaces doing the backbreaking work of cleaning rooms or the potentially creepy work of serving people in their rooms. Initiative 124 would help mitigate those risks.
