The union representing many of Boston’s hotel workers announced that employees are walking off the job at four new hotels in the city amid an ongoing dispute with ownership about working conditions and pay.
Unite Here Local 26 said that “more than 400” workers at the Moxy Boston Downtown, The Newbury Boston, W Boston Hotel and The Dagny hotels are on strike. The move comes after around 900 workers at the Hilton Park Plaza, Hilton Boston Logan Airport, Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites at the Hilton Seaport and the Fairmont Copley Plaza held a three-day strike Sept. 1 along with around 10,000 workers at 24 hotels nation-wide.
The workers involved in Thursday’s strike range from room attendants and front-desk agents to dishwashers and engineers.
The union members’ previous contract expired Aug. 31 and the union says record-high Boston room rates and record national hotel industry profits mean hotel owners can afford to pay workers more and reinstate services cut during the pandemic, like daily room cleaning, that would make staff’s jobs less “arduous” and stressful.
“The Union and the hotel companies are still far apart on strike issues including raises, workloads, and COVID-era cuts,” Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo said in a statement. “Without a significant wage increase, many hotel workers simply cannot afford to live in Boston, the city that they welcome guests to. Our members shouldn’t have to work more than one job. We’re asking the hotels to hire and schedule more staff because strenuous workloads are breaking workers’ bodies. The travel industry is booming in Boston, and it’s unacceptable for hotel companies to boost profits by cutting their offerings to guests and abandoning their responsibility to workers.”