Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
Over 10,000 hotel workers across the United States went on strike from 1 September 2024 over a major holiday weekend to demand better wages and working conditions.
Workers decided to strike after the negotiations of their union, UNITE HERE with the biggest hotel chains like Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotel failed to reach an agreement.
The union leader said hotels have not reversed cost-cutting measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic despite making “record profits.”
“Too many hotels still haven’t restored standard services that guests deserve, like automatic daily housekeeping and room service. Workers aren’t making enough to support their families,” the union statement said.
“Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to, and painful workloads are breaking their bodies. We won’t accept a ‘new normal’ where hotel companies profit by cutting their offerings to guests and abandoning their commitments to workers.”
“These are billionaire real estate companies, that’s who the owners of these hotels are right now and all those folks care about is the bottom line and their profits,” said another union leader.
“I walked out today because we just cannot keep working from paycheck to paycheck, not able to pay our bills,” said a hotel worker at one of the biggest hotel chains. “Going on strike is hard, but not nearly as hard as trying to get by on what we are getting paid. We told the bosses in our negotiations how much we are struggling right now but they didn’t care. We are on strike to make them pay.”
Workers say they want higher pay, better conditions and more staff to help. The union is asking for a restoration of many of the pandemic-era cuts that hotels made, including daily room cleaning. The union says the travel and hotel industries have recovered from the pandemic but worker salaries have not reflected the comeback.
The thousands of protesting workers – which included guest managers, chefs and housekeepers — carried placards with slogans reading “One job should be enough” because most workers are forced to work more than 70 hours a week, at two or even three jobs, to feed their families.
