Hyatt Offers Housekeepers Jobs -- With Staffing Agency

(MoneyWatch)  It almost seemed as if the Hyatt Hotels Corp. controversy and subsequent boycott, over firing its housekeepers after having them train their successors as so-called "vacation fill-ins," was over. Hyatt contacted the 98 housekeepers to offer them a job -- not with Hyatt, but with a staffing agency. Perhaps one similar to the one where they found their minimum-wage replacements.

Although many news reports call this a job offer, it's not. It's only the possibility of a job. Hyatt also offered to extend health care benefits until March. The staffing agency is United Service Companies, and apparently Hyatt is promising the housekeepers' former rate of pay through 2010. About two-thirds of the housekeepers rejected the offer.

I don't know if the housekeepers are going to be able to get their jobs back, but they are in an excellent bargaining position. Already Hyatt has extended health care benefits to six months and offered training and placement, something not offered before the story went viral. But a temp job offer? Stay classy, Hyatt.

What I'm interested in is how much flack the Boston-area Hyatts received from corporate over this whole debacle.