Dive Brief:
- Union workers in Seattle, Hawaii and California have voted to approve strikes, according to social media posts by local chapters of hospitality union Unite Here.
- Thousands of workers nationwide have now authorized strikes as workers seek wages that better keep up with the rising cost of living and a restoration of pre-pandemic staffing practices.
- Though momentum for nationwide hotel strikes continues to build, no union has officially called for a strike yet — despite the fact that contracts have already expired for thousands of workers.
Dive Insight:
In San Diego, some 97.8% of union workers voted yes to strikes at Hilton San Diego Bayfront. According to a bulletin shared by Unite Here Local 30, representatives of the union have met “multiple times” with hotel management since July 12, but “[t]he hotel has made no attempt to come into an agreement with us.” Hilton did not immediately respond to a Hotel Dive request for comment.
Elsewhere in the region, workers at San Diego’s Kona Kai Resort won higher wages and “improved benefits” without striking, according to the union.
In the Oakland, California, area, 91% of union employees voted to authorize strikes at Oakland Marriott City Center and Hyatt House Emeryville. Their votes follow another held by their chapter, Unite Here Local 2, which saw thousands of workers in San Francisco vote similarly.
In Seattle, union workers at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport and Westin Seattle voted by 98% each to authorize strikes, the union chapter shared last week.
Meanwhile, strike momentum continues to build in Hawaii, where 5,000 workers have already authorized walkouts. According to Unite Here Local 5, additional workers at Sheraton Kauai in Poipu, Hawaii, authorized a strike by 91%.
“I’m ready to strike because I have had to work 12-hour shifts multiple days in a row because of understaffing,” said Raylene Pualani, a guest service agent at the hotel, in a statement. “I have lost track of how many times I have asked management ‘When are we going to restore the staffing and service hours at the front desk to what it was before the pandemic?’ Four years later and that still has not happened.”
Sheraton parent company Marriott International did not immediately respond to a Hotel Dive request for comment.
