Add Honolulu, Maui, Detroit and Oakland, California, to the list of major U.S. meetings destinations where Marriott union workers are striking. According to the UNITE HERE labor union, approximately 2,700 of its workers are on strike and picketing in the Hawaiian destinations of Oahu and Maui.
The Hawaiian hotels affected include the following: Sheraton Waikiki, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, The Royal Hawaiian, Westin Moana Surfrider and Sheraton Maui.
Nearly 200 workers at the Oakland Marriott City Center walked out on strike October 5, 2018. The workers joined their fellow union members who are on strike in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to UNITE HERE, about 2,500 Marriott workers are striking at various properties in San Francisco and San Jose.
Approximately 1,500 workers began a strike on October 3, 2018, in Boston. UNITE HERE also noted that 5,000 workers went on strike against select Marriott hotels in Detroit on October 7, 2018.
The total number of UNITE HERE workers on strike at Marriott properties stands at approximately 7,700 in eight destinations: Honolulu, Maui, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego and Detroit.
According to UNITE HERE, the labor union represents more than 20,000 Marriott hotel workers across North America, of whom more than 12,000 have had their contracts expire and are locked in ongoing negotiations. The union said the three most crucial points of disagreement between its workers and management are wage levels, workplace safety and job protections, including wintertime health care protection.
UNITE HERE also singled out Marriott’s Green Choice sustainability program as an initiative that has created unsafe workloads and resulted in additional strenuous physical labor for hotel employees.
UNITE HERE is requesting that the public not cross picket lines and maintains a customer-focused strike website that offers resources for those who do business with Marriott at marriotttravelalert.org.
