Nearly 1,200 hotel workers walk off the job in strike's biggest wave

    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WCVB) -- Nearly 1,200 Boston hotel workers fighting for a new contract walked off the job Thursday in the strike's third and largest wave, which is part of a nationwide labor dispute.

Unite Here Local 26 said the strike includes members who work at the Omni Parker House, Omni Boston Seaport, Renaissance Boston Seaport and Westin Boston Seaport.

The union said it began negotiations in April in pursuit of wages commensurate with the high cost of living in Boston, a pension, improved benefits, rules to prevent on-the-job injuries and a reversal of staffing cuts made during the pandemic.

The first wave of strikes began in Boston and eight other cities during the Labor Day weekend. To date, about 2,500 hotel workers from 12 Boston properties have walked off the job in three waves of three-day strikes.

Workers from the first and second strike waves are employees of the Hilton Park Plaza, Hilton Boston Logan Airport, Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites at the Hilton Seaport, Fairmont Copley Plaza, The Dagny Boston, Moxy Boston Downtown, The Newbury Boston and the W Boston.

The workers who vote to authorize strikes include room attendants, housepersons, front desk agents, bellpersons and doorpersons, restaurant servers, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders and banquet workers across 35 Boston-area properties.

Unite Here Local 26 members in Boston said they would prefer not to go on strike but feel they have no choice given the lack of meaningful progress in current contract negotiations.

"I am on strike because I need a raise, and the hotel refuses to give us what we’re asking for," Kaba Kamara, a houseperson at the Omni Boston Seaport Hotel, said. "It is always busy. I work full-time here, and sometimes I do overtime. But I still had to get a second job so that I can pay my mortgage and other monthly bills. My schedule is crazy — I don’t have enough time to spend with my family, with my 10-year-old daughter. I believe that one job should be enough."

The Omni Boston Seaport Hotel is the largest hotel in Boston, with more than 1,000 rooms, and its smaller sister property, the Omni Parker House, is the longest continuously operating hotel in the country.

The Omni Parker House was founded in the 1850s and has never seen its employees go on strike, the union said.

The U.S. hotel industry employs about 1.9 million people, some 196,000 fewer workers than in February 2019, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly 90% of building housekeepers are women, according to federal statistics.

The union hopes to build on its recent success in southern California, where, after repeated strikes, it won significant wage hikes, increased employer contributions to pensions, and fair workload guarantees in a new contract with 34 hotels. Under the contract, housekeepers at most hotels will earn $35 an hour by July 2027.

The American Hotel And Lodging Association says 80% of its member hotels report staffing shortages, and 50% cite housekeeping as their most critical hiring need.