Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott workers, and many more in other hotels are on Strile this US Labor Day weekend.
Surprisingly it’s not about making room cleaning to be only available upon special request due to labor shortage, it’s about cutting staff. Using the word sustainability and COVID restrictions are adding to Hyattl, Hilton and Marriott’s dynamic pricing” algorithms to charge different rates for different guests depending on where they book from, and how much the computer thinks someone has to stay in a hotel.
This results in 3-star hotels charging 5-star rates for some, but not a dime of this additional revenue is triggeling down to those that always have to clean up filthy rooms with a smile.
Housekeepers work on low wages in top rates hotels, and are expected to do miracles in a 30 day minute window they have to clean a guest room.
UNITE HERE had enough. Unite Here union members are calling for strikes saying: “Hotel companies are making huge profits while our workloads get more painful and our wages can’t support our families. We won’t let them claw back our progress or take the hospitality out of hotels. We’re ready to FIGHT to change the industry. “
They had been fighting for automatif room cleaning in hotel groups such as Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott ro return to avoid what they call unmanageable workloads, fewer hours and a ever lowe rate of income for hotel workers. It has no longe anything to do with being environmental friendly, it has to do in saving money on the back of low paid hotel cleaning staff.
Around 25 hotels in eight cities, including Honolulu, Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, and Seattle, experienced a work stoppage on Sunday by approximately 10,000 members of the UNITE HERE union who are employed in the hotel industry.
Contract negotiations have reached an impasse, leading to potential strikes by hotel employees in various cities. Their primary demands include increased wages and the restoration of services and staff reductions. The authorization for strikes has been granted by a total of 15,000 workers.
Over 5,000 employees from eight hotels in Hawaii commenced a strike at 4 a.m., marking the largest labor strike by hotel workers in Hawaii since 1990.
A Boston hotel worker said: “Boston’s hotels have been booked and busy! Hotel workers are the ones who always smile and welcome guests to our hotels. We are DONE with the struggle to make ends meet.”
Another worker commented: “These billionaire hotel chains hire, mostly, women, and pay them virtually nothing. We’ve had strikes in Minneapolis before over this. Many minorities in those jobs and they deserve a living wage. I don’t care if Paris Hilton doesn’t get another house.”
