Dive Brief:
- Some 13,500 hotel workers in Boston, Honolulu, San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island, will decide whether or not to authorize strikes in votes beginning next month, according to hospitality union Unite Here.
- The workers are currently negotiating contracts at a variety of properties, including for brands under Hilton, Hyatt Hotels Corp., Marriott International and Omni Hotels & Resorts.
- If workers vote yes to strike authorization, a strike could be called any time after their contracts expire. Contracts have already expired in some cities, and others will expire in the coming weeks, according to Unite Here.
Dive Insight:
Strike votes will be held starting Aug. 6, according to the union.
In their contract negotiations, Unite Here workers are pushing for higher wages and fairer workloads, as well as “the reversal of COVID-era staffing cuts,” according to Unite Here.
“Without the proper staffing, my job is getting harder and harder,” said Jianci Liang, a housekeeper at the Hilton Park Plaza in Boston, in a statement, noting that there are 20 fewer room attendants on the regular schedule now than there were pre-pandemic. The property became a Hilton last year. Hilton Park Plaza did not respond to a Hotel Dive request for comment.
More than 40,000 workers represented by Unite Here, the nation’s largest hospitality union, have contracts that are up for negotiation this year, the union shared. Many of those workers took part in protests earlier this year.
"Momentum is building for strikes this year because workers are at a breaking point while the hotel industry is making record profits," said the union’s newly elected president, Gwen Mills. "Hotel companies took advantage of COVID to make severe cuts to staffing and guest services, and now workers say that their jobs are more painful than ever."
In Honolulu, specifically, members of Unite Here Local 5 told Hawaii News Now that they have not gotten a raise in two years, despite the rising cost of living. The chair of the Hawaii Tourism Authority told the same news outlet that the potential strike’s timing would be “unfortunate” given the state’s ongoing push to recover from the wildfires that devastated Maui last year.
Over the past several months, Unite Here-affiliated workers in Southern California and Las Vegas have successfully fought for improved contracts and wage increases, though some in California remain in prolonged labor disputes.
