FORT WORTH, Texas — After a 40-day strike against Hilton Americas-Houston, members of UNITE HERE Local 23 announced Oct. 10 they had won a $20 hourly minimum wage for housekeepers, laundry attendants and stewards, and increases to $22 by the end of the contract in 2028. They also won more realistic workloads, improved job safety and, for the first time, a 401(k) retirement plan. This was the first hotel strike in Texas.
“Forty days ago on Labor Day, these courageous workers took a stand. And 40 days later I’m here to say, they came together and won,” Willie Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of Local 23 and lead negotiator, told the press. He was surrounded by jubilant workers in front of the hotel, one of the largest in Houston.
“I like the contract. Before the strike I was making $16.50 an hour. Now I can get groceries without having to put things back because I can’t afford it,” Lidia Mata, a housekeeper at the Hilton for three years, told this Militant correspondent by phone.
“Before the strike we had to clean 15 rooms a day. On my first day back to work I only had to clean 13. I’m very proud of our strike and what we achieved. It was good to see we were not alone, people came from all over to help our fight.”
After their contract expired June 30, union members set up picket lines at the hotel, demanding a minimum wage of $23 per hour. After rejecting Hilton’s first offer, they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a 10-day strike on Labor Day, and then extended the strike twice.
They received widespread support and solidarity from many unions and working people in Texas and raised more than $20,000 on a GoFundMe page for the strike.
“I am especially happy for my co-workers to see that they are finally getting a fair wage,” Kenyatta Oatis, a pastry chef at the Hilton, told the Militant. “Our strike was the start of something good that will effect the next contract in 2028. I was proud to be part of it.”
UNITE HERE Local 23 expects “all the players in Houston’s hospitality industry to follow suit,” Franchesca Caraballo, Texas chapter president of the union, said in a statement.
Workers at the Marriott Marquis “have been organizing to ensure they win the same standards as the Hilton,” she told the press.