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

this is democracy now democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Juan Gonzalez in Chicago as much of the United States Mark Labor Day Monday more than 10,000 hotel workers with the Union Unite Here went on a three-day strike across a number of US Cities no no [Music] 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 uh part of the Hilton Hyatt Marriot Weston and double Tre chains in nine cities Baltimore Boston San Diego San Francisco San Jose Seattle Honolulu Kawai and Hawaii and Greenwich Connecticut and more for more we're joined by two guests Lizzie tap is the president of United local to in San Francisco and Rebecca Laro is a striker and room attendant at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich Connecticut has been a room attendant for over 12 years Lizzie Tapia let's start with you explain the strategy here um the cities you've chosen the hotel chains that you're negotiating with and what you're demanding no we've been um in negotiation for months now and we have not seen um the kinds of proposal that our members will you know that will meet our members needs so we've been on strike today is day three um there are seven C that are out today um 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 able to survive especially here in the Bay Area cost of living is so high and we need to see good um wage increases in health care um retirement plan and this is also a fight that's really about respect and so we're hoping that these companies Hilton on and high will get the message and uh Lizzie Tapia are these the only hotels currently that United here has expired contracts with or is there a larger universe of hotels that you've decided not to strike at this point yeah there's definitely a larger universe of hotels um but we've been in bargaining with these for the past couple of months um and so that's where we're at today uh and in terms of the the differences in pay scales between some of these cities so for instance for housekeepers in in Boston get 28,000 hour whereas in Baltimore they only get 1620 are you trying to do uh create some sort of more rational system across the board Nationwide know I would say what is consistent across the board is the need for very significant wage in everyone is struggling especially coming out of the pandemic to make ends meet and and um and that might mean different things in different cities but what it means across the board is we need big wag in meaningful wage where we can actually afford to survive I want to bring Rebecca Laro into the conversation can you talk about what you do at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich Connecticut yes I'm doing wom attended 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 okay like 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 how is the hotel chain how is the high responding to the strike outside that you're a part of okay they don't say nothing for now but I hope hopefully we waiting for a answer but I don't see nothing for now and also could you talk a lot of a lot of hotels now allow guests to opt out of room cleaning uh how has this affected the workload and the conditions of the housekeepers okay for all those housekeepers we walking hard they give you a lot of room every day we working hard and that's why we complaint about that not only we got a lot of room and we got a lot of job to do and then we don't pay well that's why today we are on strike and and Lizzie Tapia could you talk about this issue of uh of guests being allowed to opt out of of room cleaning and what that does to uh the workers in the union yeah Rebecca is absolutely right um when get when hotels no longer provide automatic daily room clean it creates a workload issue for room attendants who are you know cleaning those rooms when a room is not cleaned for 3 days or 5 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 attendance like Rebecca said go home and they're tired and their bodies hurt and it's totally unacceptable and it's also you know I think um it's it's sort of creating a new model for guest to just not expect that their room will be clean so um you know or not um yeah or not get that as part of what they pay for for their room and so it takes away from the guest and from the worker who any 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 and Rebecca Laro 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 um working at such a um prominent hotel the Hyatt Regency people associate that of course with wealth but those are the guests okay all my co-workers always complete every day not only the job is hard and then we can survive with the money they pay us and when we finish work when we go home we can do nothing because every my coworkers have a story because we working hard and then the money they pay you cannot you cannot afford nothing with this because everything's going up that's why we ask for a better better wage health insurance and pension because we cannot afford not in contic is all this thing is very high after the pandemic everything's going up yes I'd like to ask uh Lizzy Tapia you declared a three-day strike why three days and are there possibilities for extending the strike yeah um there are no plans right now um but future strikes are possible we're our members are committed to do what it takes to win the contract here and like Rebecca pointed out you know people are tired they're hurting they're struggling and so you know we've reached this point um 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 um and part of um this action was about really coming out on Labor Day and being being together on Labor Day in so many cities um Al together um but there you know there are no plans right now um there are are possible um actions in the future time liy the lands uh around wages Staffing levels Fair workloads what are the sticking points in these contract negotiations yeah I mean you spelled them out Amy I think that um 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 um the bar and restaurant being closed um The Limited hours of in room dining or no in room dining um 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 um members who you know um bartenders servers um food and beverage workers not being there um that's you know people are at home and then for those who are there trying to make up for the lack of Staffing um their workload is is really hard it's much harder it's two or three times harder than 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're you know have that um message um and also respecting our guests those things are really related and so um it might come down to money for the bosses and like Rebecca said there's a lot of um economic issues for us too but I think largely these the you know what it takes to resolve this is really about respecting our work and respecting what we do and bringing Hospitality back back into those hotels and that's how all these things are sort of related well we want to thank you both for being with us Lizzie Tapia president of Unite Here Local 2 in San Francisco and Rebecca Laro Striker and home and hotel room attendant at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich Connecticut has been a room attendant for over 12 years again the strike against hayatt um Hilton and Marriott uh Marriott owns Weston and Hilton owns Double Tree