At the same time, workers at other hotels in the area are engaged in related union fights.

The Marriott bosses strongly resisted the unionizing effort at the Fourth Street hotel after it got under way in 1996, seven years after the facility opened. Marriott has a record of resisting unions; only a small number of the 2,400 hotels it manages globally have union contracts.

Over the course of the fight, workers organized many lively picket lines and rallies in front of the hotel, often with hundreds participating. During conventions held at the hotel, workers picketed up to 16 hours a day. Many other unionists, nonunion workers, and youth joined in these solidarity actions, in which the union led chants and passed out flyers to explain the issues and gain support.

The union also organized a two-day strike and a boycott, persuaded some associations and companies to cancel stays at the Marriott, and filed unfair labor practice charges against the hotel.

A number of other hotels reached agreements with HERE Local 2 during the course of this fight. As a result, 88 percent of the city’s "class A" hotels are unionized, up from 74 percent six years ago.

Meanwhile, workers remain on strike at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf. They held a three-day strike over Memorial Day weekend, worked five days, then walked out again. They are fighting for a reduction in the workload and improved pay.

On Labor Day, 300 hotel workers and supporters held a rally in front of the Courtyard Marriott. They chanted "Courtyard Marriott on strike--day and night," "Courtyard Marrriot is unfair," and "Don’t check in, check out." The unionists hold picket lines from 6:00 a.m. to midnight.

Ramón Guevara, a worker at the Marriott on Fourth Street, told the rally, "Don’t let them tell you that you can’t win this fight. You will win this fight. I want to thank everyone here for supporting us at Fourth Street. If it can be won there it can be won anywhere."

Charles Durham has worked nine years at many different hotels through jobs dispatched out of the union hall. "Unions need to help each other," he said. "If we unite the government can’t do anything."

At the Claremont Resort and Spa in Oakland, workers and their supporters picketed outside that hotel on Labor Day to protest the employers stalling on settling a contract with food and beverage workers over wages, benefits, and the right to unionize 140 spa workers.

Deborah Liatos is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 120.  
 
 
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