Marriott hotel worker strike: More than 1,500 strike in Boston, demanding better pay from hotel chain as it turns huge profits
"What we're faced with is representatives of Marriott who seem to be fixated on doing business in the old way, when the industry wasn't in the process of rapid change," said Local 26 President
The strike includes workers from across seven different hotels in
Thousands of Marriott hotel workers in other major
Local 26 President Lang said that for many workers, there is a lack of stable job security, which subsequently leads the absence of health insurance and proper retirement benefits.
He and striking hotel workers pointed directly to the "Make a Green Choice" program Marriott offers customers as an initiative that has hurt housekeeping staff.
The program, marketed as a way for customers to reduce their "environmental footprint," allows guests to forego housekeeping for up to three days in exchange for hotel reward points or food and beverage vouchers.
"We help them to get all this money," says
"But employees are laid off one month, two month, three months at a time," he added.
Da Vejga said that housekeepers are often without work but kept "on-call" to come in. According to union spokespeople, if workers do not work at least 240 hours in a three-month period, they no longer qualify for health insurance.
Lang said the union is asking for Marriott to adjust certain practices such as the "Green Choice" program, or at minimum, to modify its contracts in some other "creative way" that offers hotel employees stable work and pay.
"To live in
"We're going to be in the streets until they sign the contract. No matter how long it's going to take," Da Vejga added.
Marriott spokespeople have said their last contract included the largest increases to date. The company responded to the strikes and workers' complaints with a statement:
"We are disappointed that
While the strike is about more than a simple wage increase, according to Lang, a demand for higher pay is one part of the equation in negotiations. Housekeepers currently make
He would not confirm what workers want in a new contract, but worker Da Vejga -- who said he has been involved in negotiations since last March -- stated housekeepers are asking for an hourly raise of more than
For others, like 71-year-old
"Our job is not easy. When I finish, my whole body feels pain," Leung said at a picketing line on Wednesday. She said she has worked with Marriott for nearly 31 years and wants to retire.
Like
In 2012, Local 26 hotel workers negotiated a defined-benefit pension plan, union leader Lang said. But for older workers, like Leung, who was in her mid-60s at the time those plans were negotiated, there has been little monetary accumulation since then. Lang said many older workers need enough money to pay for Medicare costs.
"We need enough money so people who need to retire now can retire without going into poverty, and afford to pay for the medicare supplements," Lang said.
Workers who set up conventions and events in
"These poor people, the corporate greed. They're not getting paid what they deserve," McNiff said. "We're here to help them fight."
A central point of striking workers' complaints stem from the fact that
In the first quarter of 2018, for instance, the company reported a net income of
Lang accused
"The human aspect of it, the workers, the people who provide the services in these largely concrete and glass structures that we call hotels...is the last consideration when it comes to the owners," Lang told MassLive.
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