With 17 rooms to clean each shift, Fatima Amamud’s job at the Moxy Hotel in downtown Boston sometimes seems impossible.
Once she found three-day-old golden retriever hair stuck to the curtains, sheets and carpet. She knew she wouldn’t be able to finish the job in the 30 minutes she had to spend on each room. The dog’s owner had refused to clean the room daily, an option that many hotels have encouraged as being environmentally friendly but is also a way for them to cut labor costs and deal with staff shortages. COVID-19 pandemic,
However, unionized housekeepers have fought hard to have their system reinstated. Automatic daily room cleaning Workers at major hotel chains say they have unmanageable workloads, or in many cases, fewer hours and a drop in income.
The dispute has become a symbol of frustration over working conditions among hotel workers who were laid off for months during the pandemic shutdown and have returned to an industry that is struggling with persistent staffing shortages and changing travel trends.
Charles Krupa/AP
More than 40,000 workers represented by the Unite Here union are embroiled in tough contract negotiations with major hotel chains such as Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni. They are demanding higher pay and the rollback of service and staffing cuts.
At least 15,000 employees have voted Authorize a strike If no deal is reached after contracts expire, hotels in 12 cities from Honolulu to Boston will be affected.
The first strike began on Sunday, when more than 4,000 workers walked off the job at hotels. bostonSan Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Greenwich, Connecticut, said Unite Here.
“We told the manager several times that this is too much for us,” said Amamud, whose hotel was one of the hotels where workers were allowed to strike but have not yet walked out.
Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s head of labor relations in the Americas, said the company’s hotels have made contingency plans to minimize the impact of the strike. “We are disappointed that UNITE HERE has opted to strike while Hyatt remains open to negotiations,” he said.
In a statement before the strike began, Hilton said it was “committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement.” Marriott and Omni did not respond to a request for comment.
Demand for compensation for maintenance of family
The labor unrest is a reminder of the pandemic’s lingering impact on low-wage women, particularly Black and Hispanic women, who are overrepresented in front-facing service jobs. Though women have largely returned to the workforce after bearing the brunt of pandemic-era furloughs — or left jobs to take on caregiving responsibilities — that recovery has masked the gap in employment rates between women with college degrees and those without.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. hotel industry employs about 1.9 million people, which is about 196,000 fewer workers than in February 2019. About 90% of building housekeepers are women, according to federal data.
According to UNITE HERE, it’s a workforce that relies primarily on women of color, many of whom are immigrants, and in which the majority of women are older.
Union President Gwen Mills described the contract talks as part of a long-running fight to ensure family-sustaining compensation for service workers on par with those in traditionally male-dominated industries.
“Hospitality work overall is undervalued, and it’s no coincidence that the people doing this work are disproportionately women and people of color,” Mills said.
Charles Krupa/AP
The union hopes to build on its recent success in Southern California, where after repeated strikes it won significant pay raises, increased employer contributions to pensions and fair workload guarantees in new contracts with 34 hotels. Under the contract, housekeepers at most hotels will earn $35 an hour by July 2027.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association says 80% of its member hotels report staffing shortages, and 50% list housekeeping as their most critical hiring need.
Kevin Carey, the association’s interim president and CEO, says hotels are doing everything possible to attract workers. According to the association’s surveys, 86% of hoteliers have increased pay in the past six months, and many have offered more flexibility with hours or expanded benefits. The association says hotel worker pay has increased by 26% since the pandemic began.
“This is a great time to be a hotel employee,” Carey said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.
The reality on the ground is more complicated, hotel employees say.
Maria Mata, 61, who works as a housekeeper at the W Hotel in San Francisco, said she could earn $2,190 every two weeks if she were to work full time. But some weeks she is called in for only a day or two, forcing her to max out her credit card to pay for food and other expenses for her household, which includes her granddaughter and elderly mother.
“It’s hard to find a new job at my age. I just have to have faith that we’ll figure it out,” Mata said.
Guests at the Hilton Hawaiian Village often tell Nelly Renante that they don’t need their rooms cleaned because they don’t want Nelly to work too hard. She said she takes every opportunity to explain that declining her services just adds work for the housekeepers.
Hospitality industry is improving, but not for workers
Since the pandemic, Unite Here has reinstated automated daily room cleaning at some hotels in Honolulu and other cities through contract negotiations, complaint filings or local government ordinances.
But the issue is back up in the air at many hotels, where contracts are expiring. Mills said Unite Here is pursuing language that would make it more difficult for hotels to quietly encourage guests to opt out of daily housekeeping.
The U.S. hotel industry has recovered from the pandemic, though average occupancy rates remain below 2019 levels, largely due to higher room rates and record guest spending per room. Average revenue per available room, a key metric, is expected to reach a record high of $101.84 in 2024, according to the Hotel Association.
Unite Here is a strong union but faces an uphill battle over daily room cleaning as hotels consider cutting services as part of a long-term budget and staffing strategy, said David Sherwin, director of Cornell University’s Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations.
“The hoteliers are saying the guests don’t want it, I can’t find people and it’s a huge expense,” Sherwin said. “That’s the fight.”
Workers are upset that they are being overworked for irregular schedules and low pay. While unionized housekeepers tend to earn higher salaries, pay varies widely across cities.
Chandra Anderson, 53, makes $16.20 an hour as a housekeeper at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, where workers have not yet voted to strike. She’s hoping for a contract that would raise her hourly pay to $20, but says the company hit back with a counteroffer that “felt like a slap in the face.”
Anderson, who has been the sole breadwinner of her household since her husband went on dialysis, said she had to move into a smaller home a year ago because she couldn’t put in enough hours at her job. Things have improved since the hotel resumed daily room cleaning earlier this year, but she still struggles to buy basics like groceries.
Tracy Lingo, president of Unite Here Local 7, said Baltimore members are seeking pensions for the first time, but the biggest priority is bringing hourly wages up to par with other cities.
“We’re so far behind,” Lingo said.