Hotel workers at four hotels have walked off the job

By WBZ News Staff

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Nearly 900 Boston hotel workers went on strike Sunday morning.

Who is on strike?

The workers – which include room attendants, front desk agents, banquet workers, cooks and dishwashers – walked off the job Sunday morning at four hotels: The Hilton Park Plaza, Fairmont Copley Plaza, Hilton Logan Airport and Hilton-Hampton Inn Boston Seaport.

At the Hilton Park Plaza Hotel, workers picketed with signs that said, “One job should be enough.”

Why are workers striking?

The Unite Here Union, Local 26, represents hospitality workers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The union said it is protesting what it says are arduous workloads and wages that aren’t enough to afford the cost of living. The strike comes after months of contract negotiations. The hotel workers’ previous contract expired on Saturday.

The union says many of its workers work multiple jobs and that hotels took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to cut staffing, causing workers to lose income and increasing the workload of staff that remained.

“Hotel workers are fighting for their economic lives,” said Carlos Aramayo, President of UNITE HERE Local 26. “The hotel industry is making massive profits, but wages just aren’t enough to support our families. Service and staffing cuts have made hotel jobs more painful than ever, and we don’t want hotels to become the next airline industry – where guests pay more and get less while workers are left behind. Workers are fed up with the hotels, and we’re on strike to make them pay.”

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, who was at the picket lines at the Park Plaza, said “Today, the union is on strike. They deserve a fair contract. We’re asking people not to check in to the hotel.”

Flynn also came out in support of the workers on X, formerly Twitter, saying that the strike was about supporting working families and building a strong middle class.

The hotels have not released a statement about the strike.

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