Hotel Workers’ Union UNITE HERE Releases Travelers’ Guide to Possible Strikes as Busy Labor Day Travel Weekend Approaches
20 Agosto 2024 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Hotels May Not Warn Travelers About Strikes;
Union Wants Guests to Be Prepared for Possibility of Widespread
Disruptions to Hotel Stays
Hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE today published a guide of
travel tips to help hotel guests plan for possible strikes across
the United States. Thousands of hotel workers in nine cities have
now authorized strikes at Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Omni hotels,
but hotels rarely notify guests of a strike, and travelers
sometimes learn of a strike only upon arriving at their hotel and
being met by a boisterous picket line. The union launched the
travel guide ahead of Labor Day weekend, when millions of Americans
are planning travel.
The guide advises travelers to understand how a trip could
affect their stay – including protests and the potential for
reduced hotel services – and to be proactive about staying updated
on the status of labor disputes. The union has created a website
called FairHotel.org where travelers can search hotels by name or
city to learn whether a hotel is at risk of a strike, on strike, or
under boycott and find alternative hotels that are not subject to a
labor dispute.
The guide recommends that in the event of a strike, guests
should cancel their stay immediately and demand a refund without a
cancellation fee; hotels have been in contract negotiations with
the union for months and have long known about the potential for
disputes. Guests traveling as part of a conference, wedding, or
other event should contact the event organizer, who can ask the
hotel to insert protective language into the event contract.
Hotel workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing
strikes at hotels where workers are locked in unresolved contract
negotiations in Baltimore, Boston, Honolulu, Greenwich, New Haven,
Providence, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle. Strike votes are
upcoming in Oakland and San Diego. Strikes could begin any time
after contracts expire; contracts in some cities have already
expired, while the rest expire by the end of the month.
Hotel workers are calling for higher wages, fair staffing and
workloads, and the reversal of COVID-era cuts. The union says that
too many hotels took advantage of the pandemic to cut staffing and
guest services like automatic daily housekeeping and room service,
causing workers to lose income and creating painful working
conditions for those who carry the increased workload.
The U.S. hotel industry made over $100 billion in gross
operating profit in 2022. Meanwhile, U.S. hotel staffing per
occupied room was down 13% from 2019 to 2022. Last year, UNITE HERE
members won record contracts after rolling strikes at Los Angeles
hotels and a 47-day strike at Detroit casinos.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240820593208/en/
Ted Waechter 919-636-1124 twaechter@unitehere2.org