Marriott Employees Are on Strike in 8 US Cities

Oct. 09, 2018

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4 min read

Marriott Employees Are on Strike in 8 US Cities

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Around 7,700 Marriott International employees are on strike across eight US cities and will not return to work until an agreement is reached with the company.

Thousands of the Marriott International employees on strike are members of Unite Here, an organization that represents workers throughout the US and Canada who work in the hotel, gaming, food service and airport industries. The employees have expiring contracts in 2018 and are demanding the company provide safer jobs and increase wages.

The Marriott International employees are on strike in Detroit, Boston, Oahu, Maui, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose. The largest strikes are happening in Boston, San Francisco and Hawaii. According to USA Today, the Unite Here members on strike include housekeepers, front desk attendants, restaurant employees, bellhops and other non-managerial positions.

The employees have spent months negotiating with Marriott, and their contracts expired over July and August. The members authorized strikes weeks ago after Marriott International failed to address the strikes' key issues like higher wages, job protection around automation, workplace safety, improving sexual harassment protections and creating more secure schedules.

"Marriott is the richest and most profitable hotel company in the world, and by taking them on in this historic hotel worker strike, Unite Here union members are going to change the lives of all workers in our industry,” D. Taylor, international president of Unite Here, said in a statement.

One TPG reader, who is a Marriott Platinum Elite/Ambassador customer, has stayed at two Marriott properties in Boston within the past two weeks and said the protests are loud enough to be heard in the hotel rooms. The reader explained there is no food service available, with the exception of dry snacks in the bar, and no housekeeping services.

Additionally, he said Marriott did not make it known that his stays would be affected by the strikes until the night before check-in, thus putting him past any cancellation period. According to the Boston Globe, these strikes mark the city's first major hotel strike in modern history.

Marriott International did not address how it would be handling the strikes or if any negotiations would be met. “We are disappointed that Unite Here has chosen to resort to a strike at this time," a Marriott spokesperson said in a statement. "During the strike our hotels are open, and we stand ready to provide excellent service to our guests. While we respect our associates’ rights to participate in this work stoppage, we also will welcome any associate who chooses to continue to work."