Dive Brief:
- Labor disputes ended at five Hilton hotels in Boston after the hotel company reached a tentative labor agreement with union workers, Paul Ades, Hilton senior vice president and assistant general counsel, said.
- Some 750 workers at four Hilton hotels voted Thursday to ratify new contracts with raises and affordable healthcare, according to a Unite Here release obtained by Hotel Dive. Those hotels include the Hilton Boston Logan Airport and Hilton Boston Park Plaza, which were on strike for 24 days, the union said.
- In California, however, the union’s progress was mixed: Though some 650 workers in San Jose ratified new contracts, 85 striking hotel workers and their supporters in San Francisco were arrested Wednesday during a “non-violent civil disobedience,” according to Unite Here.
Dive Insight:
Hilton workers in Boston, which saw multiple waves of strikes, followed fellow union members at Omni Hotels & Resorts to ratify contracts with higher wages in the city. Ades said Hilton was “pleased” to reach an agreement with workers, “who are at the heart of everything we do.”
In San Jose, California, workers at five Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott International hotels also ended labor disputes at their properties. Two of those – Signia by Hilton San Jose and DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose — saw workers strike over Labor Day weekend.
“With each contract settlement, hotel workers are proving the hotel companies can afford to give us the wages and workloads we need,” said Gwen Mills, international president of Unite Here, in a statement Thursday. “Hotel workers will continue this fight until we win everywhere.”
In San Francisco, however, arrests took place at a protest “calling on hotels to settle contracts and end weekslong hotel strikes” by more than 2,000 Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott workers, according to Unite Here. The protesters were blocking traffic as part of a sit-in near San Francisco’s Union Square, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
During negotiations in August, hotel workers offered to forgo most guaranteed wage increases if hotels agreed to make their compensation contingent on future hotel profits and “take proactive measures to boost San Francisco’s recovery,” such as reopening restaurants to bring more foot traffic downtown, staffing more doormen, eliminating resort fees and “reversing service cuts so San Francisco hotels can provide the best possible experience,” Unite Here said.
Downtown San Francisco hotels have seen their value drop amid lessened demand and increased crime. The complex consisting of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square — where workers are on strike — and Parc 55 hotels has seen its value drop by $1 billion, according to Trepp.
Meanwhile, union workers in Honolulu are still on strike at Hawaii’s largest hotel, Hilton Hawaiian Village, where guests staged a protest in response to reduced service, according to Island News.
In a third-quarter earnings call last week, the resort’s owner, real estate investment trust Park Hotels & Resorts, said strikes were impacting the REIT’s performance, Hotel News Now reported.
