Over 10,000 Hotel Workers on Strike for Labor Day Weekend

A person walks past the San Francisco Marriott Union Square hotel, on July 11, 2019. Jeff Chiu/AP Photo

More than 10,000 employees associated with the Unite Here union began a multi-day strike on Sunday against two dozen American hotels, demanding higher wages and increased staffing.

Affected hotels include those run by Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, Westin (Marriott), and Fairmont, the union said in a Sept. 1 press release. In most hotels, the strikes are being held until Tuesday.

The workers are calling for “higher wages, fair staffing and workloads” and a reversal of COVID-19 pandemic wage cuts. Workers claim that the wages being paid are not enough to cover the cost of living, with many forced to do two jobs to support themselves, according to Unite Here.

“After months of unresolved negotiations, hotel workers with the UNITE HERE union walked off the job today at 24 hotels in eight cities: Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle,” the union said in the press release. “Each city’s strike will last two or three days ... Strikes have also been authorized and could begin at any time in Baltimore, New Haven, Oakland, and Providence.”

The union pointed out in the press release that room rates are at “record highs,” with the hotel industry generating more than $100 billion in gross operating profit in 2022.

Unite Here has previously held strikes at several hotels.

Beginning in July last year, workers belonging to a union affiliated with Unite Here conducted several strikes across multiple hotels. By March, the movement led to workers striking at 53 hotels over 160 times, which the union called the “nation’s largest hotel worker strike wave in modern history.”

On March 25, the Unite Here affiliate announced that 34 hotels in Southern California had put up more favorable contracts that covered wages, pensions, and fair staffing guarantees. The contracts were accepted by the workers.

Unfair Demands, Worker Shortage

Some of Unite Here’s demands in certain strikes have faced criticism. For instance, a strike conducted in July last year demanded that hotels support a ballot measure requiring Los Angeles hotels to house homeless people.

Hotel owners then filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union, noting that such a demand was unrelated to employees and therefore not legal.

“[The union] is asking hotels to be part of a housing initiative that we have no authority over,” Pete Hillan, a spokesman for the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, told The Epoch Times at the time.

The current strike in the eight cities comes as hotels are facing staffing shortages, with owners raising wages to secure workers in some cases.

A June survey from the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that more than three-quarters of its respondents are “experiencing a staffing shortage, and hotels are increasing pay, benefits, and perks to recruit and retain employees.”

Eighty-six percent of the respondents said they raised wages over the previous six months, 52 percent offered their employees better flexibility with working hours, and 33 percent expanded benefits. Despite these initiatives, almost eight out of ten said they were unable to fill positions.

“Seventy-six percent of survey respondents said they are experiencing a staffing shortage, and 13% reported they are severely understaffed, meaning the shortage is affecting their hotel’s ability to operate. The most critical staffing need is housekeeping, with 50 percent ranking it as their top hiring need,” the survey found.

The Epoch Times reached out to the hotels affected by the current strikes for comment.