Jennifer Kauffman is an AFL-CIO immigration policy and training associate. These are her thoughts on allies crossing the Hyatt picket line to attend the 2012 Online News Association Conference & Awards Banquet (ONA).

Colleagues in the immigration advocacy and DREAM movement have wondered aloud whether journalist Jose Antonio Vargas crossing the picket line was such a bad thing, after all, since he drew the attention of more than 100 journalists to the plight of the Hyatt Hurts campaign workers.

The answer is simply this: Crossing a picket hurts EVERYONE.

Hyatt “systematically abuses housekeepers and other hotel workers,” said UNITEHERE! President John Wilhelm this morning in announcing a worldwide boycott of the hotel chain.

A wide range of groups, including the AFL-CIO, NFL Players Association (NFLPA), Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), Pride At Work and several civil rights and women’s groups, are backing the boycott.