Members of the UNITE HERE Local 26 hospitality union protest outside the Park Plaza hotel in Boston, MA on September 1, 2024. Around 10,000 hotel workers around the country walked off the job at midnight in protest after their negotiations for a new contract stalled.(Sipa via AP Images)
goog_900304279Members of the UNITE HERE Local 26 hospitality union protest outside the Park Plaza hotel in Boston, MA on September 1, 2024. Around 10,000 hotel workers around the country walked off the job at midnight in protest after their negotiations for a new contract stalled.(Sipa via AP Images) 
Jason Bergman/SipaUSA/AP
New YorkCNN — 

More than 10,000 hotel workers at 24 hotels stretching from Boston to the West Coast to Hawaii went on strike early Sunday morning, disrupting travel during a busy Labor Day weekend.The hotels are reportedly still open but guests will deal with a skeleton staff unable to provide full services. UNITE HERE, the union representing the striking workers, says they are striking not just for better pay but also better working conditions, including the return of automatic daily room cleaning that many hotels dropped during the pandemic.

“We’re on strike because the hotel industry has gotten off track,” Gwen Mills, International President of UNITE HERE, said in a statement Sunday morning. “During Covid, everyone suffered, but now the hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind. Too many hotels still haven’t restored standard services that guests deserve. Workers aren’t making enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to.”

Aissata Seck, a banquet food server who has worked at Hilton Park Plaza in Boston for 18 years, said her rent has increased from $1,900 to $2,900 in the last five years. “My pay only covers my rent,” she told CNN. She is now working as an Uber driver to make ends meet.

Read more