BOSTON — A spirited picket line of striking hotel workers marched around the Hilton Boston Park Plaza, chanting, dancing and drumming on Home Depot buckets Oct. 8. Over 600 workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 26, have been on strike here and at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport since Oct. 6. This is second time since early September workers have put up picket lines, but this time the strike is open-ended.
The workforce is very multinational, many with decades working here. Devis Medina is a cook in the employee cafeteria, with 20 years at the hotel. The high cost of housing in the area means some co-workers need to have two jobs, he said, and “they live paycheck to paycheck. This strike puts pressure on the company. The solidarity from people driving by has been good.”
Jacques and Paul, both culinary workers originally from Haiti with 30 and 24 years here, talked about the cost of living having gone way up. “We’re not asking for anything special, it’s what we need,” Jacques said. “If you don’t fight, who’s going to do that for you? We need a new contract that shows respect.”
Several housekeeping workers told me how the nonunion Hiltons require room attendants to clean up to 26 rooms in a shift, compared to 15 where there’s a union. “They’d like us to go backward to those conditions,” said Berny Miranda. She had previously worked at the nonunion Hyatt hotel in Cambridge.
Others described getting assigned to additional rooms if guests choose to forego daily cleaning. However, they’re still responsible for filling requests for coffee, towels and toiletries for these “no service” rooms.