Posts tagged tourism
Several Philly hotels could see workers strike next month as FIFA and America’s big birthday grow near
May 27, 2026 // Their strike deadline falls just before two long-anticipated tourism events. Philadelphia is hosting visitors for the FIFA World Cup games, which begin June 14. And Philadelphia is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence throughout the year, with events clustered around the July Fourth holiday. “If we have to, we are prepared to strike all the way through the World Cup, all the way through the 4th of July,” Maciah Magloughlin, who works at the Wyndham Historic District, said in a union statement. “We want this summer to be one for the history books. But its success will not be on the backs of hotel workers.” The remaining five hotels where a contract has not been reached are: Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District, Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, and Hilton Garden Inn Philadelphia Center City.
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.
Commentary: In the Glass Hive of Art News: Dark Clouds at the Met, Boston’s MFA
February 5, 2026 // Two weeks ago, unions grabbed the pot of gold at the end of the phony-baloney rainbow when the Metropolitan Museum of Art staff voted 542–172 to join the United Auto Workers. Counterintuitive, I know, but the UAW has a portfolio of bargaining units that includes boutique left-wing, white-collar culture workers such as the curators, conservators, librarians, archivists, designers, marketeers, visitor-services coordinators, and fundraisers at the Met. Along with bread-and-butter issues, these workers can be mobilized to wail over false values like open borders, which suppress working-class wages, the climate change hoax, Black Lives Matter, Celebrate Your Abortion, Me Too, No Kings, From the River to the Sea, any or all while wearing “pussy hats,” which, ladies and real wannabe ladies, don’t flatter. So, a juicy, fresh plum is now added to the UAW stash.
2028 Olympics could bring big wins for Los Angeles labor unions
January 25, 2026 // “We are going to have a force ... of working people to do whatever it takes, including striking if we have to during the Olympics in 2028,” Petersen said. “The Olympics can’t happen without the workers.” A coalition of labor groups, community organizations and religious institutions are pushing for the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee — known as LA28 — and the city to pay for building 50,000 housing units, pass a moratorium on short-term rentals like Airbnb, and protect immigrant workers.
Union members at one Philadelphia hotel authorized a strike, as more could vote in the future too
September 24, 2025 // In addition to wage raises, the union is seeking improvements to healthcare benefits for dependents, worker pensions, and more robust staffing across hotels. The unionized employees include room attendants, cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, and banquet staff at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square, Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District, Hilton Garden Inn Philadelphia Center City, Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City — Convention Center, Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel, and Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing.
‘We ain’t going away’: Hilton hotel workers extend strike again in wage push
September 21, 2025 // Unionized workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston will extend their strike by another three weeks, buoyed by political support and grassroots donations in their push for a $23 minimum wage. The strike at one of the city’s largest hotels began on Labor Day and was originally set to last 10 days, but workers extended it through Sept. 20 after negotiations stalled. The latest extension slates an Oct. 12 end date, which would bring the strike to a total of 42 days.
Los Angeles tourism industry and labor unions brawl ahead of 2028 Olympics
July 1, 2025 // After the city council passed a $30 minimum wage law in late May for workers in the airline, hotel and hospitality industries, a group of business interests — signed by players in the local hospitality industry and funded by major airlines and industry groups like Delta, United and the American Hotel & Lodging Association — launched a referendum effort to challenge the new law. “We’re giving everything we have to make this business work, to claw out of the hole that was created by COVID,” said Greg Plummer, a referendum proponent who runs a 250-employee concession company at LAX. “Our airports are still down substantially in traffic. Tourism is completely down, and the fires didn’t help … it gets to a point where it’s going to crumble a lot of small businesses.”
Strike by workers at a casino near the Las Vegas Strip enters 2nd day
November 18, 2024 // After the breakthrough deals last November, the Culinary Union quickly reached similar agreements for the rest of its members at major hotel-casinos on the Strip, downtown and at off-Strip properties — with the exception of Virgin Hotels. The contracts on the Strip alone cover more than 40,000 workers. While the union pays striking workers $500 per week for picketing shifts for at least five days, union members at the picket line on Friday said that they were expecting financial pain while being out of work.
Disneyland workers reach tentative deal with company, averting strike
July 25, 2024 // The bargaining committee previously accused Disney of having "engaged in multiple instances of conduct we allege are unfair labor practices, including unlawful discipline and intimidation and surveillance of union members exercising their right to wear union buttons at work." The union buttons in question depict a Mickey Mouse-style white glove raised in a fist. (The company has insisted that costumes worn by cast members are "a critical part of enhancing the experience of our Disney show.")
ALCATRAZ CITY CRUISES WORKERS STRIKE IN SAN FRANCISCO AMIDST SUMMER TOURISM SEASON
May 28, 2024 // As summer tourism kicks into gear, Alcatraz City Cruises workers are hitting the picket lines in San Francisco. Striking for better contracts, the unionized workers who operate the ferry services to Alcatraz Island abruptly halted operations Saturday morning, drawing the attention of tourists and city officials alike. According to NBC Bay Area, the workers are protesting "unfair labor practices" and a stall in negotiations that have dragged on for over a year.