Posts tagged Housekeepers

    Reason: Union Summer

    May 21, 2026 // They're at it again: Yesterday, the unions representing the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) workers reached an agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs the railroad. It's not yet clear what's in the agreement, but the demands of the striking workers were rather extraordinary: Pay raises of 5 percent, plus three years of retroactive raises since their last contract was hammered out in 2022. This might make sense if they were destitute, but they are not: "More than 325 Long Island Rail Road workers are raking in over $100,000 a year in overtime on top of their lucrative salaries, with 11 of them netting at least twice that huge figure in OT," reports New York Post (below yesterday's perfect headline: "Gravy Train").

    N.Y.C. Hotel Housekeepers Will Earn Over $100,000 Under New Contract

    May 19, 2026 // “They’re going to try to offset that by raising rates,” he said. But how successful they would be is unclear, given that New York City already has the highest average room rates of any big city in the United States, at about $335 a night, Mr. Pequeno said. In the past year, New York hotels have also had the nation’s highest occupancy rate, at about 84 percent, he said. The agreement between the hotel workers and the industry comes about six weeks before the expiration of the current 14-year contract. For more than a year, union officials had been preparing for a strike in early July, just before the celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States and the final of FIFA’s World Cup tournament at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

    Gold Strike Casino Workers Unionize With Teamsters Local 667 in Mississippi

    January 7, 2026 // Workers at Tunica, Mississippi-based Gold Strike Casino Resort announced Monday they have voted to join Memphis, Tennessee-based Teamsters Local 667 labor union through a card-check majority.

    Hilton-Americas Houston strike ends as workers secure $20 minimum wage, improved conditions

    October 14, 2025 // Unite Here Local 23 members at Hilton-Americas Houston have voted to ratify a new contract, ending a 40-day strike and winning higher wages. Housekeepers, laundry attendants and stewards secured $20-an-hour minimum wage with guaranteed wage increases to eventually bring that number up to $22 an hour by the end of the contract, according to a Oct. 10 news release.

    Some Mount Holyoke College workers went on-strike

    September 4, 2025 // Dining workers, facility workers, and housekeepers at Mount Holyoke College have gone on-strike. The move comes after workers attempted to negotiate new contracts with wage increases in an effort to get the lowest paid workers a livable wage as the cost of living continues to rise

    Employees strike at Hilton Sacramento Arden West hotel over housekeeper workload

    June 1, 2025 // Workers at the Hilton Sacramento Arden West went on strike Saturday to protest housekeeper workload, which the union’s local chapter president said is higher than any other unionized hotel in Sacramento. Unite Here Local 49 President Aamir Deen said he didn’t know of any unionized workers that did not participate in the strike from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., but he said the hotel remained open as managerial employees tried to fill the gaps with temporary workers or staff from other hotels.

    Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election

    May 30, 2025 // Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state’s. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

    Striking San Francisco hotel workers urge J.P. Morgan health conference attendees to stay away

    December 12, 2024 // Housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers, bartenders and other members of the union, Unite Here Local 2, are reaching out to attendees of the invitation-only J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference to be held Jan. 13-16 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. The conference is billed as a global symposium that includes health and technology industry leaders and members of the investment community. Union spokesperson Ted Waechter said 10,000 people took part in the conference last year.

    500 San Francisco hotel workers hit picket lines Thanksgiving week, joining 2,000 already on strike

    November 25, 2024 // On Sunday, the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel workers joined workers at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Marriott Union Square, Palace Hotel and Westin St. Francis, where workers represented by Unite Here Local 2 are already on strike. Local 2 officials said in a press release that the strike now includes 2,500 housekeepers, bellhops, cooks, dishwashers, servers, bartenders, and more. The strike has been going on since Sept. 22, according to Ted Waechter, a spokesman for the union.