Striking San Francisco hotel workers ratify contracts Christmas week

THOUSANDS OF WORKERS at Marriott International, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Hotels Corp. hotels in San Francisco returned to work after ratifying new contracts, according to UNITE HERE. The workers settled for affordable healthcare, significant raises and workload protections.

About 1,500 Marriott employees returned on Saturday, while 1,000 Grand Hyatt workers unanimously ratified a tentative agreement, UNITE HERE said in a statement. Hilton workers ended their 93-day strike on Dec. 24, voting 99.4 percent for the new contract.

San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie engaged with hotel owners and striking employees after his election, helping to secure union approval for the Marriott contracts.

“Mayor-elect Lurie reached out to us following his election and made calls to key hotel owners that got the ball rolling,” Ted Waechter, a spokesman for UNITE HERE Local 2, was quoted as saying in the San Francisco Examiner.

Approximately 1,500 employees from the Palace Hotel, San Francisco Marriott Marquis, San Francisco Marriott Union Square, and Westin St. Francis returned to work on Dec. 21, the union said. Hundreds of striking workers at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco ratified a new contract on the same day.

The tentative four-year agreement at Hilton, which expires in 2028, mirrors the deals ratified by Marriott and Hyatt workers, UNITE HERE said. It covers 900 Hilton workers, including 650 who had been on strike at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and 250 who were prepared to strike at Hilton’s Parc 55 hotel.

The strikes began on Sept. 22 and involved 2,500 hotel workers at six hotels affiliated with Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt. Meanwhile, dozens of striking hotel workers arrived in Washington D.C. on Sept. 23 to urge Congress to address hotel resort fees.

In October, hotel workers in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, ratified union contracts at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich and Omni Providence Hotel, marking the first agreements in ongoing national disputes with Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni.