Labour union warns 'dispute ongoing' as over 9,500 US hotel workers end strike

Los Angeles, Sep 5
Unite Here, the union representing hotel workers, has said that "the labour dispute is ongoing" as more than 9,500 of its members who struck Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels in multiple US cities over the Labour Day weekend are back on the job.

More than 10,000 hotel workers in nine cities, including Baltimore, Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle, walked off the job over the weekend, Xinhua news agency reported.

The striking workers' primary demands include higher wages, more staffing to ease their workload, and the reversal of service cuts implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.

After months of unresolved negotiations, the limited duration strikes lasted one to three days in each city, said the union in a news statement, adding that strikes have also been authorised and could begin at any time in Baltimore, New Haven, Oakland, and Providence.

"Continued picketing and other disruptions are possible," the union noted.

Around 700 hotel workers at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront have decided to remain on an open-ended strike, and workers will be on the picket line until they win their contract, according to the news statement.

Unite Here said on its website that the labour union represents 300,000 working people across Canada and the US.

The union added that its members work in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries.

"During Covid, everyone suffered, but now the hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind. Workers aren't making enough to support their families, and many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to," said Gwen Mills, International President of Unite Here, in the news statement, adding that "Too many hotels still haven't restored staffing or the services that guests deserve, like automatic daily housekeeping and room service, and painful workloads are breaking workers' bodies".

"We won't accept a 'new normal' where hotel companies profit by cutting their offerings to guests and abandoning their commitments to workers," Mills noted.

Room rates are at record highs, and the US hotel industry made more than $100 billion in gross operating profit in 2022. But hotel staffing per occupied room was down 13 per cent from 2019 to 2022 as many hotels maintained Covid-era cuts, including understaffing, ending automatic daily housekeeping, and removing food and beverage options, according to the union.