On Sunday, thousands of hotel workers in cities across the United States walked off the job, marking the beginning of what could become the largest hotel strike in the nation’s history. This wave of strikes, which started in San Francisco, Boston, and Greenwich, Connecticut, is set to disrupt one of the busiest travel weekends of the year—Labor Day. With the potential to spread to additional cities, including New Haven, Baltimore, Seattle, and several locations in Hawaii, the strike threatens to cause significant chaos and inconvenience for travelers and hotel operators alike.
The striking hotel workers are represented by Unite Here, a powerful national union with a membership of 275,000, the majority of whom are women and people of color. The union is demanding higher wages, increased staffing, and reduced workloads for its members, many of whom have struggled with painful working conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Union leaders argue that the pandemic has been used by hotel management as a pretext to permanently cut costs, leading to reduced staff and the suspension of guest services. These changes have had a devastating impact on workers, many of whom have seen their income slashed or have been forced to endure grueling workloads. The strike is a response to these ongoing issues, as workers seek to secure better compensation and more humane working conditions.
One such worker, Daniela Campusano, a housekeeper at Hilton’s Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites in Boston’s Seaport district, highlighted the challenges faced by many in her position. “I’m on strike because I need higher wages,” Campusano said. “I currently have two jobs, and I work about 65 hours a week. One job should be enough.”
The Potential for a Nationwide Strike
The initial strikes are scheduled to last three days, but they could expand to other cities as early as Sunday or Monday. Unite Here’s president, Gwen Mills, emphasized that the strike is not just about wages but also about addressing the broader issues within the hotel industry. “We’re on strike because the hotel industry has gotten off track,” Mills said. “Workers aren’t making enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to, and painful workloads are breaking their bodies.”
If the strike spreads to the other cities where workers have voted to authorize a walkout, it could become the largest hotel strike in U.S. history. The union’s contracts, which cover housekeepers, front desk attendants, bellhops, restaurant waitstaff, cooks, bartenders, and other workers, have expired in several cities, leading to an impasse in negotiations between the union and hotel companies.
Hotels’ Response and the Impact on Operations
The hotel industry has responded to the strike with varying degrees of concern. Michael D’Angelo, a spokesperson for Hyatt, expressed disappointment with the union’s decision to strike, stating that the company has a long history of cooperation with unions and remains willing to negotiate. However, he also noted that hotels have plans in place to minimize the impact on operations during the strikes.
Despite these reassurances, the strikes are expected to cause significant disruptions, particularly during the busy Labor Day weekend. The Transportation Security Administration has already predicted that this year will see the busiest Labor Day travel period on record, and the work stoppage threatens to exacerbate delays and inconvenience for travelers.
The current strike wave is part of a broader trend of labor unrest in the hospitality industry. Unite Here has been involved in several high-profile strikes and labor actions in recent years, including a series of rolling strikes in Los Angeles last summer that resulted in higher wages and more equitable workload guarantees for hotel workers. In Detroit, casino workers secured an 18 percent immediate pay raise and reduced workloads after a 47-day strike, while in Nevada, the union won significant gains for 40,000 hospitality workers after threatening a strike.
The union argues that many U.S. hotels have kept COVID-era cost-cutting measures in place, leading to lower staffing levels, less frequent housekeeping, and fewer food and beverage options for guests. According to Unite Here, hotel staffing per occupied room fell by 13 percent between 2019 and 2022, exacerbating the workload for remaining employees.
The strike has brought to light the personal stories of workers who have been affected by these industry changes. Christian Carbajal, a 15-year employee at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, is one such worker. During the pandemic, Carbajal’s room service department was shuttered, and he was transferred to a position in the hotel’s grab-and-go market. Without the room service tips, Carbajal says he earns about $800 less each month.
This pay cut has forced Carbajal, his wife, and their two children to move in with three other family members in a house farther from the hotel. The family has also adopted alternating work schedules to avoid childcare expenses, with Carbajal working nights and his wife working days. “We’re being pushed to go on strike because we’re not being given fair pay,” Carbajal said. “It’s bad that we’ve had to go this far to get better working conditions, to feel appreciated as someone with so many years of service.”
As the strike continues to spread, it underscores the growing momentum of labor movements within the hotel industry and beyond. The workers’ demands for fair wages and humane working conditions reflect broader concerns about the future of work in a post-pandemic world. Whether or not the strike leads to significant changes in the industry, it is clear that workers are increasingly willing to stand up for their rights, even if it means walking off the job on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
