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On this Labor Day...
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) We're on strike! We're on strike!
SUMMERS: ...More than 10,000 hotel workers on strike in nine cities, in demonstrations that should continue through tomorrow at most. Housekeepers, front desk agents, bellmen and restaurant staff at select Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott Hotels are calling for change. NPR's Andrea Hsu has more from Baltimore.
SUMMERS: ...More than 10,000 hotel workers on strike in nine cities, in demonstrations that should continue through tomorrow at most. Housekeepers, front desk agents, bellmen and restaurant staff at select Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott Hotels are calling for change. NPR's Andrea Hsu has more from Baltimore.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: These strikes have been months in the making. Some 15,000 union workers on the East Coast, West Coast and in Hawaii have seen their labor contracts expire. Talks between their union, UNITE HERE, and the hotel chains have dragged on. In Baltimore last week, Tracy Lingo, president of UNITE HERE Local 7, was already preparing for a picket, getting out the wooden sticks.
TRACEY LINGO: Can I give you a bundle?
HSU: And unpacking new signs.
LINGO: So these signs say, on strike.
HSU: Another says, make them pay. Lingo ordered these, hoping they wouldn't have to be used.
LINGO: But you always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
HSU: In Baltimore, the union already successfully fought to restore daily room cleanings, which had gone away during COVID. Now it's all about wages. They're seeking a nearly 25% wage bump right away and additional increases in years to come. Lingo points to higher hotel wages in nearby cities and says the goal is to close at least some of that gap. So far, she says what Hilton has offered still leaves Baltimore workers $10 an hour behind workers in D.C., an hour away.
LINGO: People are very determined that we're not going to accept that this time.
HSU: People like Linda Benston, who's worked at the Hilton in Baltimore since it opened in 2008. She started as a housekeeper, cleaning some 16 rooms a day. Now, as a supervisor, she still steps in to clean rooms as needed, and after 16 years...
LINDA BENSTON: We make 18-something.
HSU: An hour. She says she barely gets by, often having to choose which bills to pay. At 61, Benston is caring for her mother, a cancer survivor, and also helps out with her daughters and grandchildren. She thinks going from 18 to, say, $25 an hour would make a big difference.
BENSTON: I would be able to help more with food and stuff and pay more bills and wouldn't have to worry about - should I get another job?
HSU: Lingo says Benston's financial struggles are nearly universal.
LINGO: Ninety-seven percent of the housekeepers that we surveyed at the Hilton said that they had trouble paying their rent or mortgage on time at least once in the last year.
HSU: Meanwhile, according to the real estate data firm CoStar, occupancy in Baltimore hotels is just shy of pre-pandemic levels, and room rates are up, so hotels are now generating more revenue per room. It's these contrasting realities that's emboldened workers like Linda Benston. She's convinced that walking off the job will be worth it in the long run - her daughter, less so.
BENSTON: She said, you sure you're not going to lose your job? I said, no, we won't lose our job. We can go on strike, OK?
HSU: In a statement, Hilton said it remains committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements. Even with a cooling job market, workers across industries are still agitating for better wages and working conditions, convinced that companies can do better by them. Last year, hotel workers in southern California staged rolling strikes and emerged with raises totaling 40 to 50% over 4 1/2 years. Facilities and dining workers at Cornell walked out a few weeks ago and are now voting on a deal that would give them 25% raises and a cost of living adjustment. Ruth Milkman, a sociologist with the City University of New York, says those kinds of union wins serve as inspiration.
RUTH MILKMAN: If you see a successful example, you think, wow, you know? Gee, I'm underpaid. My paycheck hasn't gone up, and meanwhile the company's making super profits. Like, we should do this too. You know, it just sort of creates momentum.
HSU: As for the hotel strikes going on now, Hilton says it has contingency plans in place to allow operations to run as smoothly as possible. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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