SAN FRANCISCO — While new, improved contracts have been won this fall by striking hotel workers across the country, here they are still on strike. Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt bosses are playing hardball, demanding an inferior medical plan for new hires and other concessions.
In response, UNITE HERE Local 2 has increased the number of hotels on strike from three to six, with 2,500 workers now picketing. Workers at eight other hotels have voted to authorize the union to call them out.
Pickets on Thanksgiving Day at the Palace Hotel told this Militant worker-correspondent that they’re ready to stay out as long as needed. “For me the big issue is medical benefits,” restaurant worker Yanai Lopez said. “I need the health care where I only pay $10 a month for myself and my daughter.” She has worked there for 10 years, and now pays $17 a day to take Bay Area Rapid Transit to work. “Everything is going up,” she said. “We need a raise.”
Other big issues are job combinations and heavier workloads. At the same time, some workers don’t get enough hours. During the COVID-19 shutdowns large numbers of hotel workers were laid off. Now, even as occupancy rates have gone up, the hotel owners are boosting their profits by refusing to restore regular staffing. Many workers have short hours, with some not getting enough hours to qualify for medical coverage.
As the strike enters the 10th week, negotiations are at a standstill, with hotel representatives rejecting union demands that more workers be hired and that bellmen, concierge, restaurant and other jobs that were cut be brought back.
Hotel bosses argue that the workers must pay for the fact that hotel occupancy, while gaining, has not yet returned to the pre-COVID level. “San Francisco Is Sinking in Bad Hotel Debt,” read a headline in the Wall Street Journal timed to coincide with the contract expiration.
While crying poverty, the hotel giant Marriott reported a gross profit for the 12 months ending in September of $5.5 billion. Hyatt raked in over $1 billion. Meanwhile, the cost of renting a hotel room in San Francisco is skyrocketing. “The owners would rather overprice their rooms and leave them empty, which leaves the room cleaners sitting at home,” Local 2 staffer Lorraine Powell said. “It’s all about the money for them.”
Solidarity with this important fight is needed. Join the picket lines that are up 24/7. Donations can be made on the UNITE HERE Local 2 website.