Thousands of unionized hotel workers plan to hold rallies in nearly 20 cities on May 1 to demand big pay increases ahead of contract negotiations with major chains.
The talks with hotel operators Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels involve about 40,000 employees seeking new contracts for the first time since the pandemic.
Workers taking to the streets in 18 cities across the U.S. and Canada, including Boston, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco and Toronto, are demanding pandemic-era layoffs and service cuts that have eliminated daily cleaning at some hotels. They are calling for a rescission and a substantial overlap in wages. In recent years, organized labor across the country has been winning.
“There has been a series of layoffs and service cuts, leading to both painful working conditions for employees and reduced service to guests,” said Unite, a labor group representing about 300,000 hotel workers across the country.・Here Chairman Gwen Mills says: USA and Canada.
The number of people per occupied hotel room has fallen by 13% since 2019, according to the union.
At the same time, U.S. hotel revenue per available room in 2023 rose 5% year over year to $100 per room, a record high, according to Coster data.
A Hyatt spokesperson said the hotel chain “has a long history of working with unions representing our employees, including Unite Here.”
“Under our recent collective bargaining agreement with Unite Here, Hyatt Hotels continues to provide eligible employees with competitive wages and benefits, as well as comprehensive health coverage.” Hyatt Americas said Michael D’Angelo, director of labor relations.
Marriott and Hilton did not immediately respond. Reply to comments.
After domestic travel slumped during the pandemic, hoteliers raised room rates in the ensuing travel boom. In response, workers are demanding an expanded share of profits.
Workers will picket outside hotels on May Day, the international workers’ holiday, in the first multi-city contract campaign since 2018, when domestic workers secured panic buttons in some markets.
But analysts said protesters could face some pressure in markets still recovering from the pandemic, such as San Francisco and Hawaii.
“Profitability for hotel owners” [in San Francisco] “Hotel owners will be very reluctant to give unions a dime because they can’t really afford it, as they are still a long way from 2019 levels,” said Patrick Scholes, an analyst at Trust. told Reuters.
Although travel began to boom in 2021, the union claims many hotels have turned to layoffs and cuts to services such as optional room cleaning during learning periods.
“Our union has no intention of making these changes permanent,” Unite Here president D. Taylor said in a pandemic statement.
The planned rally comes after a significant year for U.S. labor negotiations. A tight labor market has given workers more bargaining power, with workers in Las Vegas’ manufacturing, auto and service industries among those who have won record contracts.
The Las Vegas Culinary Union and Bartenders Union, an affiliate of Unite Here, announced that its employees received a 10% pay increase in the first year of a new five-year contract, for a total raise of 32%, which is the same This is a record in the union’s history.
Chicago hoteliers averted a strike last year by raising wages for non-tipped workers to a minimum of $25 an hour and ratifying a contract requiring hotels to clean guest rooms daily, according to a press release from Unite Here. did.
As The Post previously reported, non-union budget hotels across the country are struggling to attract guests this year as inflation takes a toll on travel budgets.
Econo Lodge, Days Inn, Super 8 and SureStay had occupancy rates of 48.7% in the first quarter, down 5% from a year earlier, according to preliminary first-quarter data from STR/CoStar, which tracks the hotel industry.
with post wire
