Boston hotel workers continue to strike for new contract

BOSTON — Boston hotel workers are entering another day of striking for a new contract.

This comes as a union representing hourly workers tries to reach an agreement with many of Boston’s leading hotels.

Workers are the Park Plaza Hotel and Hilton Logan Airport Hotel have been striking 24.7 since Sunday morning. Their main sticking points are wages and pension contributions.

The union says they haven’t had a contract in six years.

Workers at all 38 hotels represented by the union have authorized strikes, but the union has only allowed these two to go forward at this time.

However, those properties include hotels owned by Marriott, Hilton, Omni, Westin, Hampton Inn, and Sheraton.

One concern from the workers is that they are still getting pandemic-era pay, through a contract extension negotiated two years ago.

During that time, occupancy rates in Boston plummeted to 25 percent, yet rebounded to 76 percent last year.

“Cynically during COVID, they made cuts to services, they made cuts to our member’s hours, very modest wage increases over the past two years And now these hotels are pulling in profits, record profits,” said Union President Carlos Aramayo.

Hilton, who owns the two hotels striking said they respect the rights of the orders to strike but is proud of the wage and benefits package it provides,

While Hilton says it disagrees with many of the union’s current demands, its goal is to negotiate toward a fair and reasonable agreement.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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