Hotel Strike
By 
Thousands of hotel workers in major cities across the country walked off the job Sunday morning in a strike wave expected to quickly reach other U.S. cities.
The initial strikes, which involve mostly Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt properties, will last three days. More than 10,000 workers walked out at hotels in San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Honolulu, Kauai, Boston, Seattle and Greenwich, Conn., early in the day. The strikes could spread later Sunday or Monday to other communities, including New Haven, Conn.; Baltimore; and Oakland, Calif.
The work stoppage threatens to cause disruptions on a busy holiday weekend. The Transportation Security Administration has said it expects this year to have the busiest Labor Day travel period on record.
As of Sunday morning, the strikes had affected 24 properties with more than 23,000 rooms, according to Unite Here, a national hospitality union with over 275,000 members, the majority of them women and people of color.
The union, which suffered major losses in membership during the height of the pandemic, says its workers are striking for higher pay, increased staffing and reduced workloads. It has accused hotels of using covid-era lockdowns as a pretext to permanently cut costs by axing employees and suspending guest services. As a result, the union says, members lost income and work, and those who remain endure “painful” working conditions.
“I’m on strike because I need higher wages,” Daniela Campusano, a housekeeper at Hilton’s Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites in Boston’s Seaport district, said in a statement Sunday. “I currently have two jobs, and I work about 65 hours a week. One job should be enough.”
Unite Here is asking guests with reservations at striking hotels to “cancel your stay immediately” and “demand a refund without a cancellation fee.”
These are almost all big conference hotels, so if you are a professional and have an upcoming conference, it is your moral obligation not to cross the picket line. Pay attention.