SAN DIEGO -- Hotel workers and the LGBT community have been boycotting the Manchester Grand Hyatt for two years since owner Doug Manchester contributed $125,000 in early seed money to qualify Proposition 8 for the ballot.

Prop. 8 took away the right of gay and lesbian couples in California to marry. While Hyatt markets itself as a gay-friendly hotel chain, it has refused to repudiate Manchester's contribution or oppose Proposition 8. Chants of "Hyatt Hypocrisy" have ringed the Manchester Hyatt for two years since then.

People like the Pritzkers who run Hyatt are also taking unfair advantage of the nation's troubled economy: While many hotel workers live in poverty, the Pritzker family cashed out over $900 million in their sale of Hyatt shares in November 2009, and Hyatt share values climbed 65 percent in the six months that followed. In one stark example, Hyatt fired its entire housekeeping staff from its three Boston-area hotels and replaced them with workers from a subcontracting agency earning minimum wage.

In San Diego, workers and allies are preparing to be arrested in non-violent civil disobedience as part of a 15-city coordinated day of action throughout the United States and Canada. It comes during Comic Con.

WHAT: Demonstration and civil disobedience marking two-year anniversary of the Manchester Hyatt boycott and protesting Hyatt and its billionaire owners -- the Pritzkers.

WHO: Members of UNITE HERE Local 30, San Diego's hotel workers union, and community supporters.

WHERE: 600 F St.

WHEN: 5:15 to 6 p.m. Thursday, July 22

WHY: On July 22, thousands of hotel workers in 15 cities across North America are standing up to people like the Pritzkers who run Hyatt, one of the wealthiest and most politically influential families in America.

VISUALS: Workers in uniform taking arrest. Anti-Hyatt and other protest signs. Drums and noisemakers.

UNITE HERE Local 30, San Diego's hotel workers union, represents over 4,500 hotel, hospitality and gaming workers in San Diego County. Follow them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/UniteHere?v=wall#!/UniteHere

Protest @ Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego 1-10-09