Marriott employees stage protests at chain's hotels

Thousands of workers demonstrated outside Marriott International (MAR) hotels on Wednesday to press demands for better pay and work conditions.

Housekeepers, bellhops and front-desk clerks were among those participating in the protests in cities including Honolulu, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Diego and San Jose. 

The labor union Unite Here expected at least 5,000 workers to join the demonstrations calling for higher wages, protections against sexual harassment and being replaced by technology. Workplace-related issues include installing panic buttons for hotel staff should a guest become threatening or violent. 

The protests do not represent a work stoppage because only workers who are scheduled to be off the job are taking part, the union said.

Hawaii Gov. David Yutaka Ige was expected to march with workers in Waikiki, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney planned to join nonunion Marriott employees also looking for improved work conditions. In Boston, where Local 26 has been in contract talks with Marriott since March, pickets were planned outside seven Marriott-run hotels. Workers in San Diego intended to march downtown during rush hour in a display of civil disobedience.

"Carrying the message 'One Job Should Be Enough,' Marriott workers are calling on their employer, the largest and most profitable hotel company in the world, to use its leadership in the global hotel industry to create jobs that are enough to live on," Unite Here, which represents about 20,000 Marriott workers said in a news release.

Unite Here represents about 20,000 Marriott workers, with negotiations getting started on contracts covering about 12,000 of those employees that are set to expire later this year, most by summer's end.

"I commute over 100 miles everyday to work at Marriott because I can't afford to live even remotely near my job or in South Boston, where I was raised," Courtney Leonard, a long-time cocktail server at the Westin Boston Waterfront, said in the union statement. 

While not responding to specific complaints, Marriott said it respected the right of employees to voice their views. 

"Marriott has always negotiated our collective bargaining agreements in good faith and will continue to do so," a spokesperson emailed. "United Here and some of its members are engaged in demonstrations today to express their views on important issues."

Marriott, which acquired Starwood for $13.6 billion in 2016, and the Ritz-Carlton, Westin and Sheraton brands are among its 30 that operate 1.2 million rooms in more than 125 countries.