Amma’s 2008 North American Tour will be making a stop at the boycotted Hilton LAX where there is no peace, love or justice! Amma, whom is often referred to as “The Hugging Saint,” has hugged millions of people worldwide. When the location of her visit to Los Angeles was publicly released, we were surprised to learn that she would be holding her events at the Hilton LAX even though there has been communication with both Amma and her followers regarding the seriousness of the situation at the hotel.
For over two years, the Hilton LAX has been involved in a serious labor dispute. The hotel has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to oppose a living wage law for 3,500 hotel workers near LAX. And the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint alleging that the Hilton LAX has committed over 20 Unfair Labor Practices, including the suspension of 77 workers for union activity, interrogations, discrimination and threats of physical violence.
The labor dispute has escalated into a worker-called boycott of the Hilton LAX. Workers are asking the public not to eat, meet or sleep at their hotel. In response to Amma’s decision not to honor the worker-called boycott, clergy and community leaders will be joining workers for a 30-hour vigil asking Amma to meet with them and promise not to return to the Hilton LAX until the labor dispute is over.
Amma has said, “Compassion to the poor and the needy is our duty to God.” We call upon Amma to practice what she preaches by refusing to patronize a business that is treating its workers without compassion and contributing to poverty through low wages and lack of affordable health insurance,” said Rabbi Jason van Leeuwen of the Coalition for a New Century.
If you or anyone else you know is planning to see Amma, workers of the Hilton LAX and local community leaders are asking that you go to one of the other cities on her tour. Please support Hilton LAX workers by honoring their boycott and spreading this message to all those who may be interested.
Amma, Hug This Cause! - Boycott Hilton LAX 
i can’t believe amma’s coming back for the second year in a row. hotel workers deserve to have all the support they can, especially from a spiritual leader like her.
Amma is so well known in the New Age spiritual circles, so it does come as a surprised to me that this has been going on and that New Agers don’t know what happened in Los Angeles last year.
I’m not a very spiritual person, so when I see this kind of stuff I get even more turned off to religion in general. There is so much hypocracy is sick!!
I can’t believe Amma’s people can be so heartless. They haven’t been enlightened at all. What a sham!!!
It is SO disappointing that Amma is returning to a hotel that doesn’t respect workers. If she believes in compassion, she needs to stop supporting such an incompassionate business!
there are so many religious leaders from so many faith traditions who do support workers in many beautiful ways, and if I were a follower of Amma I would just be heartbroken that she is making this decision and refusing to support workers.
I agree completely with you Jon. What a shame. Where is the love? If she cared about peace in the world, she would know what to do — not support the management f a hotel that torments its workers.
Amma, do the right thing!!! Tell the Hilton LAX that they need to stop their unfair treatment of workers and move your event elsewhere!!!
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[…] year. Next week she is back in the City of Angels to give hugs and also to piss off the workers ahttps://hugthiscause.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/amma-hug-this-cause/SLAM! SportsSLAM! SportsFrom the los angeles Times – Jun 10, 2008Wally Skalij / los angeles Times By […]
This is an example of needless apathy keeping people from standing together to achieve social justice. I knew nothing about Amma until I read this advisory, but if she has intentions to work for peace and justice, it is a simple thing to take the advisory of those struggling–the hotel workers–and take her business elsewhere.
Amma’s hypocrisy is appalling! How can she claim to do good when she won’t even take a small step to support low-wage workers? What use are her hugs when people can’t feed their children?
From what i understand, the hotel workers reached out to Amma months before she planned on coming to LA. She had plenty of time to reschedule and didn’t.
From what i undersand, hotel workers reached out ot Amma months before she planned on coming to L.A. Amma, how about a little empathy with those hugs?
Quite frankly, this is shocking. To be sure, Amma is probably wonderful, she is probably a powerful and loving force in many people’s lives…but how can she possibly ignore this? How can she – with any conscience whatsoever – cross that boycott line?
Even if she is so insulated by advisors, handlers, etc….that she doesn’t know what’s going on (which seems exceedingly illogical), then: 1) I implore her to wake up, and 2) it seems she should do some hugging work on the people that work for her – so that they’ll wake up.
Please, Amma, seriously…
No disrepsect to Amma but her ignoring the workers Boycott TWO TIMES is very self centered. Unfortunately, people around the world have yet to respect those who work as maids, housekeepers, janitors, etc…without whom most of the luxury we experience would be impossible. A real Saint would have her eyes on justice as well as spirituality.
this is really disappointing. Amma-so many people have been touched by you, why are you spurning these struggling workers by ignoring their plight? if you truly stand for compassion, have some compassion for these workers!
what i most don’t understand is why it would be a big deal for her and her camp to be at a different hotel…can’t she just make other arrangements? LA is full of hotels that are not engaged in a labor struggle. to stay at the ONE who is, smacks of intention.
It really breaks my heart to see that a woman who is seen as a spiritual leader is leading her followers astray. The workers at the Hilton LAX are suffering. They deserve justice, and as people of faith it is our duty, our obligation to support them as they seek better lives for themselves and their families. If Amma really cares about these workers, she will embrace them and honor them by taking her business to a hotel that treats its workers with dignity and respect.
Shame on Amma! This really diminishes her spiritual leadership in my eyes. As religious and spiritual leaders, we should be judged by our actions. Taking sides in issues of justice is part of life, and it is what is called for in this case.
For Amma and her organization to say they can’t take a side in the dispute, then to have her scheduled there, IS taking a side in the dispute–
She easily could have scheduled at another venue and avoided this altogether.
To the workers at the LAX Hilton– thank you for all you do to welcome and care for Amma and her entourage, even though you will not be justly paid in either wages or respect by her nor your management.
Her entire ministry of hugging is to show that we are connected; that physical connection is spiritual connection. How disappointing that she is not able to empathize with the injured, aching workers whose spiritual lives are daily under siege from the injustice they suffer under corporate greed.
I am sending Amma love, and a prayer that she will know within herself that embracing justice enables a more loving world.
-Rev Sandie Richards, First UMC Los Angeles
I received a hug from Amma last year after attending the news conference appealing to her to “hug this cause.” I don’t think I can do it again this year. I would consider the hug a hollow one, knowing she has knowingly turned her back on the real physical suffering of these workers. BOYCOTT HILTON LAX!!
Anyone can hug others; but standing up for them is very different. Amma needs to stand up for the workers at the Hilton LAX and respect their struggles for fair pay and decent treatment. People who plan to go to the Hilton for a hug should stay out on the sidewalk and shake hands with the working women and men out there.
There is an action this Monday, June 16th in response to Amma’s visit to the Hilton LAX (once again.) Come support the workers of the Hilton LAX by joining us for 30 Hours of Solidarity! 3pm-10pm is the best time to come for, and stay as long as you can.
What a shame. Keep up the fight, hotel workers!
These are Amma’s own words: “I desire peace for the people; this is what makes me happy. In this world where so many people live in luxury and comfort, there are many who are suffering poverty and even starvation. With cooperation and love, we must selflessly serve the whole world without expecting anything in return.”
it’s amazing to me how amma’s teachings about “selflessness” seem not to apply to the working poor in my community. i am both deeply offended and flabbergasted that amma can continue her teachings of compassion and love while blatently disregarding the concerns of the community she is visiting.
Amma, te hago un boo! Amma, I boo you!
THis is ridiculous, all these new agers want to make the world a better palce but cant grasp theri economic impact on the conditions in which we live in. All we have in America is the power of your dollar, so to patornize a company like the Hilton LAX and then claim to be doing the world a service is hypocritical and near sighted. She claims to not want to be in the middle, well when u fuel injustice with your money, then u put yourself in this dispute!
hug DEEZZZ NUTSSSS
i am extremely disappointed in amma. how can anyone follow a spiritual leader that does not have compassion for workers in struggle, such as those at hilton lax? i will stand in solidarity with hotel workers on june 16th and 17th! amma needs to respect the boycott and find another hotel in which to practice love and compassion!
Where can I go to hug Amma that does not have such bad karma?
[…] year. Next week she is back in the City of Angels to give hugs and also to piss off the workers ahttps://hugthiscause.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/amma-hug-this-cause/AMMA : La pr??tresse de l&39amour – The messenger of love.Amma ? rassembler ? Toulon 15.000 […]
We really need to think why we have Saints and Mahatmas on this earth. It is not to participate in political issues but to help us to grow spiritually so that we can deal with those issues ourselves.
If we develope a peace of mind it doesn’t mean that we are weak when it comes to fighting our rights. But we can walk in the middle of a chaos and still keep our mind pure, this way we can get the resolts we want.
This world is always in motion, there are things that seem wrong and unfair. How can we get eternal happiness from the world that always changes?
We can do our share to change it but we must never lose ourselves in the chaos… If we have anger, frustration and sorrow we are like empty pipes. Just full of negative emotions that can lead us nowhere.
Amma has so many great things to teach us. How to live in this world and how to walk a path with our heads up and hearts open!
I hope you continue to take actions with this cause, but with good spirit.