In 2011, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco had been working in room service at a luxury hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, for nearly four years, whisking delicacies on demand to guests' rooms, when he reached breaking point. He was paid a measly $5.50 (4) an hour, made to work punishingly long shifts and, to top it off, had managers taking a cut of his hard-earned tips. The poor treatment ratcheted up after DeFrancesco and colleagues tried to unionise workers at the hotel.