Hundreds of Boston-area hotel workers go on strike
Wages, pensions, work rules and insurance benefits are the key issues.
By Kaitlin McKinley Becker and Erin Logan • Published September 1, 2024 • Updated on September 1, 2024 at 11:32 pm
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Nearly a thousand hotel workers in Boston are on strike this weekend after their existing contracts expired, with no sign of any new negotiations during one of the busiest weekends for the hospitality industry in the city.
Hotel workers including room attendants, front desk agents, doormen, cooks, dishwashers, banquet servers, and others at four hotels walked off the job around 4 a.m. Sunday after their previous contract expired at midnight. The workers are members of the UNITE HERE Local 26 union, and they say they are protesting arduous workloads and wages that aren’t enough to afford the cost of living.
The strike in Boston comes after months of contract negotiations, according to the Local 26 union, which represents workers in the hospitality industries of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
“I’m on strike because I’m literally tired of working in multiple departments and having an unpredictable weekly schedule just so I can make 40 hours a week,” Michael Correa, who has been a barback at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport Hotel for 17 years, said in a union statement. “Going on strike is a huge sacrifice, but it’s something I have to do for myself and my two daughters. We told the bosses in our negotiations how hard things are for us right now, but they didn’t care. The hotel only respects power, so it’s time to show them our strength.”
According to the Local 26 press release, the US hotel industry made over $100 billion in gross profit in 2022, and hotel executives at Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott made $596 million in total between 2020 and 2023. Meanwhile, U.S. hotel staffing per occupied room was down 13% from 2019 to 2022 as many hotels nationwide have kept COVID-era service cuts in place, including understaffing, ending automatic daily housekeeping, removing food and beverage options, and more.
“Hotel workers are fighting for their economic lives,” Carlos Aramayo, President of UNITE HERE Local 26, said in the statement. “The hotel industry is making massive profits, but wages just aren’t enough to support our families. Service and staffing cuts have made hotel jobs more painful than ever, and we don’t want hotels to become the next airline industry – where guests pay more and get less while workers are left behind. Workers are fed up with the hotels, and we’re on strike to make them pay.”
Three weeks ago, the union voted overwhelmingly to strike if they couldn’t come to an agreement, The deadline is at midnight.
“Shame on Hilton for actually bringing it to this situation,” Aramayo told NBC10 Boston. “They’ve done nothing but spit in our faces and this is the consequence of that.”
“They can’t afford the rent, they can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford to take their kids out for a nice meal once in a blue moon. And the reality is who is to blame for that? These hotel companies,” Aramayo said.
Since April, UNITE HERE Local 26 has been in contract negotiations with Hilton. They were holding onto hope for the last few weeks after they overwhelmingly voted to strike if they still couldn’t reach an agreement.
One longtime Hilton employee told NBC10 Boston on Saturday that the strike was inevitable.
“I held onto hope until the last minute,” Susie Cuelho said. “They haven’t contacted us.”
Cuelho said she was ready to strike along with hundreds of other area hotel workers in Boston and Cambridge alone. She’s been an operator at the Boston Logan Airport Hilton for 21 years but says this is more than a job.
“When my mom immigrated into this country, she worked there as a housekeeper. She was pregnant with me while working at the hotel and I’m the Hilton baby, and this really breaks my heart,” she said through tears.
Cuelho says hotel workers were left with no choice but to take action. The union overwhelmingly voted to strike three weeks ago if they couldn’t come to an agreement with hotel management by the end of the night on Aug. 31.
Almost all service staff are taking to the picket line at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza, Hilton Boston Logan, Fairmont Copley and Hampton Inn Seaport.
The union says many hotel workers struggle to make ends meet and have to work multiple jobs to support their families.
There’s been support for striking workers from some officials like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, who showed up Sunday morning to show his support.
Warren released a statement on the strike, saying, “I stand in solidarity with Local 26 because one job should be enough.”
“I walked the picket line with Local 26 in 2018 at the Westin Copley, and I support these workers now as they fight for a fair contract,” the Massachusetts senator added. “Unions built the middle class and make the Massachusetts economy stronger.”
Wu has also previously let workers know that they have the city’s full support: “That is what a vote to strike means. It tells the world that you know who you are and you know what your work is worth.”
This is the first regionwide hotel strike in local history — one that will likely be detrimental to the tourism industry.
NBC10 Boston reached out to Hilton for a comment about the strike, and a spokesperson said they are committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement.
As for hotel guests, a Hilton spokesperson said there’s a contingency plan in place.