10,000 Hotel Workers Strike at Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton for Raises, Fair Workloads & Respect

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman in New York, with Juan González in Chicago.

As much of the United States marked Labor Day Monday, more than 10,000 hotel workers with the union UNITE HERE went on a three-day strike across a number of U.S. cities.

STRIKING HOTEL WORKERS: No pension, no peace! No benefits, no peace! No respect, no peace! No contract, no peace!

AMY GOODMAN: Hotel union workers are fighting for wage increases, better staffing levels, fair workloads and respect. Today, the third day of the strike, taking place at 25 hotels, part of the Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Westin and DoubleTree chains in nine cities: Baltimore, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Honolulu, Kauai, in Hawaii, and Greenwich, Connecticut and more.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. Lizzy Tapia is the president of UNITE HERE Local 2 in San Francisco. And Rebeca Laroque is a striker and room attendant at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut, has been a room attendant for over 12 years.

Lizzy Tapia, let’s start with you. Explain the strategy here, the cities you’ve chosen, the hotel chains that you’re negotiating with, and what you’re demanding.

LIZZY TAPIA: So, we’ve been in negotiations for months now, and we have not seen the kinds of proposals that our members will — you know, that will meet our members’ needs. So, we’ve been on strike. Today is day three. There are seven cities that are out today, and it’s about 9,500 workers that are out here on day three.

And, you know, we’re looking for a contract that meets what we need to be able to survive, especially here in the Bay Area. Cost of living is so high. And we need to see good wage increases and healthcare, retirement plan. And this is also a fight that’s really about respect. And so, we’re hoping that these companies — Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt — will get the message.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Lizzy Tapia, are these the only hotels currently that UNITE HERE has expired contracts with, or is there a larger universe of hotels that you’ve decided not to strike at this point?

LIZZY TAPIA: Yeah, there’s definitely a larger universe of hotels, but we’ve been in bargaining with these companies specifically for the past couple of months. And so that’s where we’re at today.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of the differences in pay scales between some of these cities — for instance, for housekeepers in Boston get $28 an hour, whereas in Baltimore they only get $16.20 — are you trying to create some sort of more rational system across the board nationwide?

LIZZY TAPIA: No, I would say what is considered across the board is the need for very significant wage increases. Everyone is struggling, especially coming out of the pandemic, to make ends meet. And that might mean different things in different cities, but what it means across the board is we need big wage increases, meaningful wage increases, where we can actually afford to survive.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Rebeca Laroque into the conversation. Can you talk about what you do at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut?

REBECA LAROQUE: Yes. I’m doing room attendant.

AMY GOODMAN: And that means? Explain the work that you do. And what do you want to see happen? And how do you think the hotel is responding?

REBECA LAROQUE: OK, like a room attendant, we clean room every day. That’s my job. And you said what I’m waiting for, the hotel is going to be —

AMY GOODMAN: How is the hotel chain — how is the Hyatt responding to the strike outside that you’re a part of?

REBECA LAROQUE: OK. They don’t say nothing for now, but I hope — hopefully, we’re waiting for an answer. But I don’t see nothing for now.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And also, could you talk — a lot of hotels now allow guests to opt out of room cleaning. How has this affected the workload and the conditions of the housekeepers?

REBECA LAROQUE: OK, for all those housekeepers, we’re working hard. They give you a lot of rooms every day. We’re working hard. And that’s why we complained about that. Not only we got a lot of room and you got a lot of job to do, and then we don’t pay well. That’s why today we are on strike.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Lizzy Tapia, could you talk about this issue of guests being allowed to opt out of room cleaning and what that does to the workers in the union?

LIZZY TAPIA: Yeah, Rebeca is absolutely right. When hotels no longer provide automatic daily room cleaning, it creates a workload issue for room attendants who are, you know, cleaning those rooms. When a room is not cleaned for three days or five days at a time, it’s sticky. It’s dusty. It requires double the amount of work to clean. And hotel companies don’t then adjust your workload, right? It just means that room attendants, like Rebeca said, go home, and they’re tired, and their bodies hurt. And it’s totally unacceptable. And also, you know, I think it’s sort of creating a new model for guests to just not expect that their room will be cleaned, so, you know — yeah, or not get that as part of what they pay for for their room. And so, it takes away from the guests and from the worker, who many — you know, those who are working are working double as hard, and those who are not working because rooms are not being assigned are at home trying to make ends meet, you know, trying to get a paycheck that they can survive on.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Rebeca Laroque, can you talk about the workforce? Is it largely made up of women and immigrants? And if you can talk about the financial instability you’ve experienced and your co-workers have experienced working at such a prominent hotel, the Hyatt Regency? People associate that, of course, with wealth, but those are the guests.

REBECA LAROQUE: OK. All my co-workers always complain every day not only the job is hard, and then we can’t survive with the money they pay us. And when we finish work, when we go home, we can do nothing, because — every my co-workers have a story, because we’re working hard, and then the money they pay, you cannot afford nothing with this, because everything is going up. That’s why we ask for a better wage, health insurance and pension, because we cannot afford nothing. In Connecticut, all the things is very high. After the pandemic, everything is going up.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes, and I’d like to ask Lizzy Tapia. You declared a three-day strike. Why three days? And are there possibilities for extending the strike?

LIZZY TAPIA: Yeah, there are no plans right now, but future strikes are possible. Our members are committed to do what it takes to win the contract here. And like Rebeca pointed out, you know, people are tired. They’re hurting. They’re struggling. And so, you know, we’ve reached this point not because we really ultimately want to be in this position, but we’re really committed to winning a contract that’s fair here. And part of this action was about really coming out on Labor Day and being together on Labor Day in so many cities all together. But there are no plans right now. There are possible actions in the future.

AMY GOODMAN: Time, Lizzy, the demands around wages, staffing levels, fair workloads, what are the sticking points in these contract negotiations?

LIZZY TAPIA: Yeah, I mean, you spelled them out, Amy. I think that what our members are experiencing is really about disrespect and the fact that these hotel companies are cutting amenities and cutting services. What that means is that without automatic daily room cleaning or the bar and restaurant being closed, the limited hours of in-room dining or no in-room dining, limited hours on pools or closing of fitness centers, all those kinds of things translate to our members not being able to work. You know, members who previously cleaned the lobby at night won’t be there. Members who — you know, bartenders, servers, food and beverage workers not being there. That’s, you know, people are at home. And then, for those who are there trying to make up for the lack of staffing, their workload is really hard. It’s much harder. It’s two or three times harder than it used to be.

And so, I think a lot of our issues are really about respecting our work, and that’s partly why we have that message, and also respecting our guests. Those things are really related. And so, it might come down to money for the bosses. And like Rebeca said, there’s a lot of economic issues for us, too. But I think, largely, you know, what it takes to resolve this is really about respecting our work and respecting what we do and bringing hospitality back into those hotels. And that’s how all these things are sort of related.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you both for being with us, Lizzy Tapia, president of UNITE HERE Local 2 in San Francisco, and Rebeca Laroque, striker and hotel room attendant at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut, has been a room attendant for over 12 years. Again, this strike against Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott. Marriott owns Westin, and Hilton owns DoubleTree.

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