Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Nearly 1,200 hotel workers went on strike in Boston Thursday marking the largest hospitality strike since Labor Day weekend.
The three-day strike involves workers from four local hotels—the Omni Parker House, Omni Boston Seaport, Renaissance Boston Seaport, and Westin Boston Seaport—and includes room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, front desk agents, and more. Workers are demanding things like higher wages and "more reasonable" workloads.
The union UNITE HERE Local 26 said workers' wages are not high enough to cover the cost of living despite the fact room rates are at record highs adding that the U.S. hotel industry made over $100 Billion in gross operating profit just two years ago.
In statements to WBZ NewsRadio, both Marriot and Omni Hotels & Resorts said they are committed to bargaining in good faith for a fair contract and have plans in place to make sure the strike does not disrupt any services for guests at their hotels.
This is the third wave of hospitality worker strikes in Boston since Labor Day weekend when their old contract expired at the end of August. So far over 2,500 hotel workers across 12 different Boston hotels have gone on three-day strikes since the start of the month. Twelve other U.S. cities have also had workers go on strike, including New Haven and Providence.
WBZ's Drew Moholland (@DrewWBZ) reports.
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