10,000 Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotel workers are on strike over Labor Day weekend. Workers at more than 65 hotels nationwide have authorized strikes in cities like Baltimore, Honolulu, San Diego, and Seattle.
Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest periods for travel in the US and in turn, hotels.
“The pandemic hurt a lot of people.” Said Eleni Fentress, senior. “I 100% support them.”
During 2020, hotels experienced an average 85% drop in gross operating profit and a 103% decline in net operating income. Many hotels reacted by cutting staff and guest services like housekeeping and room service. Currently, the hotel industry in the U.S. is expected to surpass its pre-pandemic record with 1.3 billion occupied room nights in 2023.
Guest occupancy has since bounced back, but staffing has not.
Staff are demanding pay increases and the end of pandemic-era job cuts that union organizers say have increased the workload of remaining workers and imposed painful working conditions.
Strikers wear shirts saying, “One job should be enough.” and “We work, who profits?” Workers in Boston banged drumsticks against orange Home Depot buckets outside the Hilton Boston Park Plaza as early as 4 in the morning.
“The banging is probably annoying, “said Yzabell-Lannah Victor, also a senior.
Over half of all strikers in Hawaii. Making this the largest strike of Hawaii hotel workers since 1990. The strike impacts seven hotels in Waikiki and one on Kauai including the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort Sheraton Waikiki, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, and the Sheraton Kauai Resort.
The Greater Boston Labor Council moved its Labor Day breakfast across the street from the hundreds of striking hotel workers in Boston to show solidarity. Many attendees joined the picketing workers before breakfast.
The annual gathering of union leaders and Democratic legislators included Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Gov. Maura Healey, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
“We won’t accept a ‘new normal” Said Union President Gwen Mills, “Where hotel companies profit by cutting their offerings to guests and abandoning their commitments to workers.”
Unite Here is the current Labor Union responsible for these strikes. They represent over 300,000 workers in many industries, including hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, and transportation industries.
As Hilton, Hampton, and Hyatt hotels become unusable, and rooms go dirty, Unite Here has directed the public to their website fairhotel.org. Here you can find hotels that have already conceded demands, as they are free from union demonstrators.
“When unions are strong, America is strong,” Vice President Kamala Harris stated at the Labor Day Rally in Detroit. Biden’s presidency was notably Pro-Union.
