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- Boston workers join thousands of hotel staff on strike across country during Labor Day weekend
BOSTON (WHDH) - Organizers of Boston’s annual Labor Day breakfast promised “no breakfast-as-usual” Monday as local hotel workers entered their second day on strike.
Nearly 900 workers at the Hilton Park Plaza, Hilton Logan Airport, Hilton-Hampton Inn Boston Seaport, and the Fairmont Copley Plaza took to picket lines Sunday.
By 6 a.m. Monday, a handful of workers were back outside the Park Plaza hotel holding signs while organizers set up tables, chairs, and tents for a unique outdoor breakfast in solidarity with the strike.
“Hotel executives are making unprecedented millions while workers right here in Boston struggle with the basics,” said Greater Boston Labor Council President Darlene Lombos in a statement. “…We are going to bring attention to the changes that are needed in the hotel industry, and frankly, so many other industries, where workers continue to be paid far too little as executive compensation goes up and up.”
The striking hotel workers are members of the UNITE HERE Local 26 union. Together, the workers have called for higher wages, an end to staffing and service cuts, and more manageable workloads.
“We’ve been bargaining for a new contract since April 11,” said hotel worker Alfredo Amado on Sunday. “Until now, this company didn’t do anything to our contract.”
“[They] didn’t sign,” Amado said. “They don’t talk to us. They don’t bargain for a new contract. So, we came out today to strike.”
The workers on strike include room attendants, doormen, front desk agents, dishwashers, and other employees.The ongoing strike comes after months of contract negotiations before the workers’ previous contract expired on Saturday.
UNITE HERE Local 26 in a statement said hotels have kept pandemic-era service and staffing cuts in place, costing some workers their their jobs. For those left behind, Local 26 said lingering cuts have created “painful working conditions” under an increased workload.
“If you ask anyone on this picket line today whether the economy is working for them, they will say ‘Absolutely not,’” said UNITE HERE Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo.
“They’ll say they can’t afford groceries. They can’t afford the rent. They can’t afford to take their kids out for a nice meal once in a while,” Aramayo continued. “And if you ask them really who’s responsible for that, they’re gonna tell you, it’s the hotel industry.”
Strike prompts schedule change for Labor Day breakfast
Soon after local workers began their strike, the Greater Boston Labor Council announced it would move this year’s Labor Day breakfast out of the breakfast’s traditional home in the Park Plaza hotel.
The Labor Day breakfast instead happened across the street, sprawling across nearby Columbus Avenue and Statler Park. Though they announced the change of plans on short notice, organizers with the Greater Boston Labor Council said they had already secured permits for an outdoor option ahead of time, in case UNITE HERE Local 26 moved forward with a strike.
“Multiple options were considered but ultimately organizers landed on what they felt would call the most attention to the needs and stories of the hotel workers – staging thebreakfastdirectly across from one of the hotels where workers are now on strike,” the labor council said.
Monday’s breakfast was expected to draw local leaders including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Gov. Maura Healey, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, according to the labor council.
In addition to the hotel workers’ strike, breakfast organizers noted a pair of planned rallies for newly-unionized medical residents seeking their first contract with the Massachusetts General Brigham health care system and for service workers hoping to regain their jobs at 100 Sudbury, a luxury apartment building in downtown Boston.
The Labor Day breakfast’s speaking program began near 9 a.m.
The rallies for Massachusetts General Brigham residents and 100 Sudbury workers were scheduled to take place at 11 a.m.
Arriving at the breakfast, Wu said she supports the striking hotel workers and planned to join them on the picket line.
Healey took to social media near 8:30 a.m., writing in a post on X that she would be standing in solidarity with UNITE HERE Local 26.
“[I]n Massachusetts, Labor Day isn’t a day we take off – it’s a day we take action,” she said.
Local actions part of national demonstrations
While Americans observe Labor Day, local workers are joining a crowd of more than 10,000 hotel staffers across the country currently on strike.
CNN reported strikes affected 24 hotels in the US on Sunday, including the four hotels in Boston. Strikes are hitting Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott facilities in eight cities from Boston to Honolulu and Kauai in Hawaii. Though hotels are open, they are running with limited staff.
Currently limited to six cities, the national arm of UNITE HERE has threatened to expand its actions to include up to 65 hotels in 12 cities.
CNN on Sunday said a spokesperson for Hyatt said the company is committed to reaching new contract agreements with UNITE HERE.
A Hilton spokesperson in a statement directly to 7NEWS said Hilton “makes every effort to maintain a cooperative and productive relationship with UNITE HERE Local 26.”
“We remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements that are beneficial to both our valued Team Members and to our hotels,” the spokesperson continued.
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