Almost 100 days later, the hotel strikes in San Francisco have come to an end.
Earlier this week, employees at the city’s Hilton hotels voted to approve a new contract, stopping a strike that started on September 22. The contract, with 99.4 percent of workers voting for it, includes raises, worker protections, and affordable health care.
“These 93 days have not been easy, and I’m so proud that my coworkers and I never gave up,” Bill Fung, a housekeeping attendant at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, said in a statement. “We stood together through the rain and cold, and even though there were some hard days, it was all worth it. We will go back to work with our health care, good raises, and the confidence of knowing that when we fight, we win.”
The hotel workers, who are affiliated with the Unite Here Local 2 union, have won a contract with several provisions that they were fighting for. Along with keeping their union health insurance plan, they will receive a $3 per hour wage increase, with additional increases throughout the four-year contract term. Plus, they’ll see better pensions and protections against understaffing and workload increases.
The San Francisco strikes encompassed some 2,500 employees across Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels. (The other two companies came to an agreement with the union prior to this week.) At one point, the strikes were occurring at hotels that made up 27.5 percent of all rooms in the city. While the strikes may have come to an end right before Christmas, Unite Here warns that more actions could be taken in the new year, and it’s hoping that other hotels in the city agree to the union’s standards in forthcoming contracts.
“San Francisco hotel workers are unbreakable,” Lizzy Tapia, the president of Unite Here Local 2, said in a statement. “Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott workers refused to give up their health care or go backwards—and we proved on the picket line that we’re not afraid of a tough fight. As contract talks begin with the city’s other full-service hotels in the new year, they should know that this is the new standard they must accept for their own employees.”
Since Labor Day, more than 10,000 hotel employees have gone on strike around the country, with the San Francisco action being the last to end. Those S.F. hotel workers can now enjoy the rest of the holiday season off the picket lines.
