More than 10,000 workers at 25 U.S. hotels were on strike Monday after choosing the Labor Day weekend to amplify their demands for higher wages, fairer workloads and the reversal of pandemic-related budget cuts.
The UNITE HERE union, which represents striking housekeepers and other hotel workers, said 200 employees at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor were the latest to walk off the job.
Nearly half of the strikers — 5,000 — are in Honolulu, Hawaii. Briana Canencia, a waitress at a Marriott for more than a decade, said she was on the picket line to fight not only for higher wages, but also for respect in a context where employees are working reduced hours and increasing workloads.
Mme Canencia, who is of Hawaiian descent, said she works a second job to support her two children, and the family lives paycheck to paycheck. She added that she fears her family will soon be “kicked out of paradise.”
“It’s very important to me to be able to raise my children here and have them discover their ancestral land, because our blood is here, our family is here,” she said. “We deserve to be here.”
Thousands of workers are also on strike in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego and San Jose, California. Strikes at Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt hotels were expected to last between one and three days.
PHOTO JOSEPH PREZIOSO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Union president Gwen Mills said the strikes are part of a long-running struggle for wages that allow service sector workers to support their families.
UNITE HERE said a total of 15,000 workers voted to authorize the strikes, which could soon spread to other cities, including New Haven, Connecticut; Oakland, California; and Providence, Rhode Island.
Equality
Union president Gwen Mills said the strikes are part of a long-running struggle for pay that allows service sector workers to support their families, as in traditionally male-dominated industries.
“Hospitality work is generally undervalued, and it’s no coincidence that it’s disproportionately women and people of color who do this work,” Ms.me Mills.
Unionized housekeepers want to restore automatic daily room cleaning at major hotel chains, saying they have been burdened with unmanageable workloads or, in many cases, fewer hours and reduced revenue. Many hotels cut back on services during the COVID-19 pandemic and never brought them back.
PHOTO JOSEPH PREZIOSO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
UNITE HERE hopes to replicate its recent success in Southern California, where after repeated strikes it won significant wage increases, increased employer pension contributions and fair workload guarantees in a new contract with 34 hotels.
Hotels say guests are no longer asking for daily room cleaning and some other services.
Hyatt and Hilton both said Monday they had contingency plans in place to minimize the impact of the strikes at their hotels. Marriott did not respond to a request for comment.
Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s head of labor relations in the Americas, said in a statement Monday that the chain offers competitive wages and benefits, including in markets where workers are on strike.
“We are disappointed that UNITE HERE has chosen to strike while Hyatt remains willing to negotiate,” D’Angelo said. “We look forward to continuing to negotiate fair contracts and recognizing the contributions of Hyatt employees.”
Hilton said through a spokesperson that it remains “committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements that benefit both our team members and our hotels.”
UNITE HERE hopes to replicate its recent success in Southern California, where after repeated strikes it won significant wage increases, increased employer contributions to pensions and fair workload guarantees in a new contract with 34 hotels. Under the contract, housekeepers at most hotels will earn $35 an hour by July 2027.
With Rio Yamat, Associated Press