Signs at 32BJ SEIU's headquarters in downtown Boston were being prepared for picket lines expected this fall on Aug. 28, 2024. Photo by Alison Kuznitz | State House News Service
Guests at nearly three dozen Boston hotels could experience less-than-desirable visits fueled by staff shortages as early as this weekend should thousands of hospitality workers go on strike due to unsuccessful contract negotiations.
Roughly 4,500 workers who are members of UNITE HERE Local 26 are bracing for strikes across 35 hotels after months of rocky contract negotiations with hotel companies. The workers are shooting for higher wages to keep up with inflation and end what they claim is pandemic-era understaffing that they say has left more work for fewer employees to handle.
“Unless something shifts, I think there will be a significant disruption in the hospitality industry over the fall,” Carlos Aramayo, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, told the News Service Wednesday.
The strikes could start at any time and at any hotel once existing contracts expire on Aug. 31, should negotiations fail, including with major companies like Marriott, Hilton and Omni Hotels, Aramayo said. Hotels that could be impacted include the Fairmont Copley Plaza, Westin Copley Place, the Omni Parker House and the Hilton Boston Park Plaza.
“The folks who work in the industry are kind of in a real difficult spot where they’re not seeing a fair share of the extraordinary profits that the hotel industry is reaping after COVID,” said Aramayo, adding he’s not currently optimistic that strikes will be averted.
“We have been in discussion with some of the major, major players in the city who would set a standard for a contract,” Aramayo continued. “We are still very, very apart on the core issues that matter for our members.”
The union says a strike at Marriott hotels in 2018 lasted 46 days, while a strike at the Battery Wharf Hotel spanned 79 days in 2019.
Local 26 members are using 32BJ SEIU’s office in downtown Boston to register for strike pay and picket duty, and to make picket signs.
Meet Boston, formerly known as the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, declined to answer State House News Service questions about the potential strike and its impact on the city’s hospitality industry. David O’Donnell, vice president of strategic communications, said Meet Boston is “monitoring this situation” but doesn’t comment on labor issues.
Union members have not been involved in major contract negotiations for six years, a Local 26 spokesperson said. To help with pandemic recovery, the union agreed in 2022 to extend existing contracts for two more years, meaning workers have only received “nominal” wage increases – but not the larger raises that workers say they need to keep up with rising costs of living, according to the spokesperson.
Local 26 members voted this month to authorize a citywide strike, the potential scope of which the union has called “historic.” Members include room attendants, housekeepers, front desk agents, restaurant servers, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders and banquet workers.
A strike could impact visitors attending conventions here and planning to stay at hotels near the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and the Hynes Convention Center, as well as families helping their kids move into college, the Local 26 spokesperson said.
