The U.S. hotels workers’ union remains locked in a dispute with hotels over wages, staffing levels and other issues with seemingly no end in sight.
With COVID-era contracts with union locals starting to expire on Oct. 23, UNITE HERE, the labor union representing hotel workers across North America, seized on the opportunity to demand a “livable wage” and better working conditions for their members.
After negotiations dragged on for nearly a year, more than 10,000 hotel workers from 25 Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni hotels in nine cities: Baltimore, Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle, walked off the job over the busy Labor Day holiday.
Since then most of those workers are back on the job, but workers at various sites remain on strike. According to a spokesperson for San Diego’s UNITE HERE Local 33, 97.8 percent of the hotel’s 737 workers voted to strike until their contract dispute is resolved.
Bridget Browning, president of San Diego UNITE HERE Local 33, explained that that her Local started with the Hilton Bayfront Hotel because it was the first contact to come up for renewal. A settlement has now been reached for that hotel, but the outcome will likely serve as a model for negotiations with other hotels in the region.
Read the full article on our sister site, Hospitality Investor.