Boston hotel workers authorize strike after their contracts expire at the end of the month
Some 4,500 workers at 35 Boston hotels voted overwhelmingly this week to authorize a strike, according to their union, Unite Here Local 26.
With the votes now secured, hotel strikes Citywide could commence in a matter of weeks: at any property, at any time, after contracts expire on August 31st.
Thousands of hotel workers collectively decided that a strike authorization vote was necessary after what they described as unproductive and even insulting contract bargaining sessions that began in April. Across job classifications, seniority levels, and types of properties, the workers overwhelmingly agreed they were struggling to make ends meet while hotel owners prospered. Since 2020, the value of total compensation for 15 named Executive Officers across three companies is a staggering $1.7 billion - enough money to pay every union hotel worker in Boston and Cambridge $40 an hour for four years.
The union says it is also fighting o restore staffing and service cuts that remain from the initial days of the pandemic.
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Comments
What are the 3 companies? If
What are the 3 companies? If they are multinationals, then why would executive compensation be used to pay workers in Boston and Cambridge specifically as opposed to Mexico City or Dublin?
These are the hotels
I got this list from the union website - basically all of them!
Aloft Boston Seaport
Aloft Providence Downtown
Bally’s Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort
Battery Wharf Hotel
Boston Park Plaza
Colonnade
Copley Square Hotel
Courtyard by Marriott Cambridge
Courtyard by Marriott Downtown/North Station
Courtyard by Marriott East Boston
Courtyard by Marriott South Boston
Dagny Boston
DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Boston-Cambridge
Element Seaport Boston
Encore Boston Harbor
Fairmont Copley Plaza
Graduate Providence
Hampton Inn Crosstown
Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites, Hilton Seaport
Hilton Boston Back Bay
Hilton Boston Logan Airport
Hilton Garden Inn Boston Logan Airport
Hotel AKA Back Bay
Hotel AKA Boston Common
Hotel Commonwealth
Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall Boston
Hyatt Place Boston Seaport District
Intercontinental
Le Meridien Cambridge
Lenox
Moxy Boston Downtown
Newbury Boston
Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport
Omni Parker House
Omni Providence
Renaissance Boston
Renaissance Providence
The Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common
Sheraton Boston
Sheraton Commander
W Boston
Westin Boston Waterfront
Westin Copley Place
Compensation ratio
Based on those numbers, sounds like the CEO-worker pay ratio is over 1000x.
The contract expiration timing could not be any better.
Come Sept. hotel rooms are full in Boston thru leaf peeping season, Homecomings, and Parent's Weekends at local uni and colleges and don't start to slow down til about beginning of Nov. This would force the owners hands if they wanted to continue to make bank thru one of their busiest seasons.
Good strategizing by the union. Hope they get what they are demanding.
Right on!
Right on!