Hotel workers at four Boston hotels walk off the job amid stalled contract talks
BOSTON - Nearly 900 hotel workers went on strike Sunday morning in Boston, one of eight cities where workers have walked off the job.
Who is on strike?
The workers - which include room attendants, front desk agents, banquet workers, cooks and dishwashers - walked off the job Sunday morning at four hotels: The Hilton Park Plaza, Fairmont Copley Plaza, Hilton Logan Airport and Hilton-Hampton Inn Boston Seaport.
At the Hilton Park Plaza Hotel, workers picketed with signs that said, "One job should be enough."
"It is very impressive to see everybody come together to fight for what they need," said union organizer Courtney Leonard. "Anybody who serves you food to cleans your rooms to cleans your dishes, parks your car, opens your door."
Why are workers striking?
The Unite Here Union, Local 26, represents hospitality workers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The union said it is protesting what it says are arduous workloads and wages that aren't enough to afford the cost of living. The strike comes after months of contract negotiations. The hotel workers' previous contract expired on Saturday.
The union says many of its workers work multiple jobs and that hotels took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to cut staffing, causing workers to lose income and increasing the workload of staff that remained.
"Hotel workers are fighting for their economic lives," said Carlos Aramayo, President of UNITE HERE Local 26, in a statement. "The hotel industry is making massive profits, but wages just aren't enough to support our families. Service and staffing cuts have made hotel jobs more painful than ever, and we don't want hotels to become the next airline industry – where guests pay more and get less while workers are left behind. Workers are fed up with the hotels, and we're on strike to make them pay."
This morning, at Hilton Boston Park Plaza Hotel. These working men and women @UNITEHERE26 are on strike. Fighting for a new contract and to be treated with dignity and respect. This is about social and economic justice for working families. #bospoli pic.twitter.com/HBhJxHnKyB
— Ed Flynn 愛德華費連 (@EdforBoston) September 1, 2024
"We've been trying to bargain now for five months, we don't have a single member inside, every member is out," said Leonard. She said managers from other surrounding areas, along with a temp agency, have been brought in to run the hotels.
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn walked the picket line with the workers at the Park Plaza. "These workers deserve to be treated with respect," said Flynn. "It's time for us to support them. They're active throughout our communities, they're an integral part of our neighborhoods."
Flynn also came out in support of the workers on X, formerly Twitter, saying that the strike was about supporting working families and building a strong middle class.
The city's annual Labor Day Breakfast is traditionally held at the Boston Park Plaza but it will now move outdoors as the city's labor council stands in solidarity with the union.
The hotels have not released a statement about the strike.