PHILADELPHIA — Three days after winning a contract through a nine-day strike at the Sheraton Downtown, UNITE HERE Local 274 workers from that hotel were on the picket line at the Hilton Garden Inn July 2 supporting their union brothers and sisters who are demanding a contract. The Hilton Garden Inn is the last of 10 hotels organized by UNITE HERE Local 274 without a contract.
The workers carried “Hotel workers ready to STRIKE” signs and chanted “What do we want? Contract now!” and “Philly is a union town.”
The workers at the Hilton are demanding the same “citywide union standard” contract UNITE HERE won at the nine other union hotels. That includes wage increases for tipped workers, a raise to $30 per hour for non-tipped jobs, expanded family healthcare coverage, an increased pension contribution by the company, and a housekeeper’s daily room workload lowered from 16 to 15 rooms.
The union called the action after learning the bosses — owner ACRES Commercial Realty and manager GF Hotels & Resorts — made a “last and final offer” to the union workers that falls short of the local’s demands.
The hotel has been laying off union members, ignoring union seniority and combining jobs to cut the workforce.
After winning a victory at the Hilton Garden Inn, the local plans to fight to organize the nonunion hotels in Philadelphia.
— Osborne Hart, UNITE HERE Local 274 member