Hotel Backs Down, Maids Won’t Have to Scrub Floors on Knees

Chambermaids “stood up” and will no longer have to get down on their hands and knees to scrub the marble floors of the Copley Plaza Hotel. They regained their mops.

“It was nice to see that they came to their senses,” hotel workers union President Domenic Bozzotto said Friday of the posh hotel’s decision to scrap an order directing maids to clean the floors with hand rags.

“It was a dignity issue,” Bozzotto said. “They wanted to move the clock back 30 years. It reeked of arrogance. It showed the attitude of the industry. They think the minority population that makes this business can be taken lightly.”

The management of the luxury downtown hotel Thursday rescinded its month-old directive barring the maids from using anything but hand cloths while cleaning bathroom floors, in effect telling them to work on their hands and knees.

The maids earn a wage starting at $7.15 per hour. Rooms cost $140 to $195 per night.

Hotel management ordered the floors cleaned by hand because of complaints by guests.