08.10.2016

NEW YORK – Yesterday, the Fed Up coalition filed a formal complaint alleging that they have been unfairly evicted from the site of one of the most important economic policy conferences in the world, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly.

Filed with the Department of Justice, the National Park Service, and the Department of Interior, the complaint asks the federal agencies to investigate these possible violations by the private company that runs the Jackson Lake Lodge in Wyoming. 

The action was taken in response to the Grand Teton Lodge Company's decision to not honor the Fed Up coalition's paid-for room reservations. Citing a supposed "computer glitch," the company informed the group only weeks before their visit, which coincides with the Federal Reserve's major annual policy symposium at the Lodge.

The complaint filed by the Fed Up campaign, a coalition of community organizations and labor unions that is advocating for reforms at the Federal Reserve asked the federal agencies to determine whether the Company violated its contractual obligations to provide nondiscriminatory service and equal access and evaluate whether any laws were broken in evicting the Fed Up coalition from the Lodge.

According to the Company, a “computer glitch” resulted in the overbooking of 18 rooms at the Lodge, 13 of which were paid for by the Fed Up coalition. The Company decided to cancel these 13 room reservations, while allowing guests who reserved rooms long after the Fed Up coalition to keep their rooms.

The Kansas City Federal Reserve organizes the annual Jackson Hole symposium and the Fed Up coalition would like the federal agencies to investigate whether the Kansas City Fed was involved with the decision to evict the Fed Up coalition.

In recent months, Fed Up has generated widespread discussion about the need to reform the Federal Reserve by disempowering the commercial banks that govern the regional Federal Reserve Banks, a proposal that has received support from Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. Numerous regional Reserve Bank presidents have spoken out against such reforms.

Fed Up Campaign Director Ady Barkan wrote in the formal complaint:

“There is no legitimate explanation for the Company’s decision. Our reservations constituted only 3 percent of the rooms at Jackson Lake Lodge (13 out of 385), yet the Company decided that our group would bear 72 percent of the total burden for its mistake (13 rooms out of 18 overbooked reservations). This is egregious disparate treatment.

“It is also worth highlighting the racially disparate impact of the Company’s decision.  The vast majority of guests at the Jackson Lake Lodge (and at the Federal Reserve’s symposium) are White. The vast majority of the attendees at our events in 2014 and 2015 were Black and Latino; the same will be true in 2016 and would have been true of the 39 guests who were slated to stay in our rooms at the Lodge. [The company’s] argument – ‘it was easier for us’ – does not strike me as a legitimate or nondiscriminatory motive for [its] decision.”

Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits hotels from engaging in racial discrimination in the provision of public accommodations.

The Lodge’s general manager explained that his staff selected Fed Up’s reservations for cancellation because they were booked in sets of 5, 5, and 3 rooms, which would make cancelation easier for his staff. The Lodge’s stated rationale means that Fed Up was selected precisely because it intended to assembly a group of guests together on government property, which may constitute an abridgment of the Coalition’s First Amendment rights.

The eviction comes as the Fed Up coalition prepares for its third and largest visit to Jackson Hole during the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium. The coalition is planning to bring 120 community leaders and organizers from around the country for a counter-conference focusing on the need to reform the Fed into a fully public institution and on the risk that the Fed will tighten monetary policy before Black and Latino communities benefit fully from the economic recovery. The eviction will make it significantly harder for Fed Up’s members to make their views known to Federal Reserve officials and the press, creating logistical obstacles and segregating Fed Up members from the powerful government and quasi-government officials who set America’s monetary policy.

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www.whatrecovery.org

Fed Up is a coalition of community organizations and labor unions across the country calling on the Federal Reserve to reform its governance and adopt policies that build a strong economy for the American public. The Fed can keep interest rates low, give the economy a fair chance to recover, and prioritize full employment and rising wages for all communities.

www.populardemocracy.org

The Center for Popular Democracy promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial justice agenda.

Media Contact: 

Anita Jain, ajain@populardemocracy.org, 347-636-9761
Asya Pikovsky, apikovsky@populardemocracy.org, 207-522-2442