BALTIMORE — Hotel workers walked out of the downtown Baltimore Hilton for a day-long strike over wages and working conditions.
200 Hilton hotel workers including baristas, servers, hosts, cooks, housekeepers, market assistants, bellmen, dishwashers, and front desk agents at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor are on strike.
The workers are members of the UNITE HERE Local 7 union.
RELATED CONTENT: 10,000 hotel workers from Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt strike over Labor Day weekend
They say they are protesting painful workloads and wages that aren’t enough to afford the cost of living.
They want a raise in pay to $20 an hour, and to reduce the disparity between Baltimore's workers and workers in neighboring major cities. The Baltimore workers are part of 10,000 hotel workers striking across the country.
“Baltimore hotel workers are fighting for our economic lives,” said Tracy Lingo, President of UNITE HERE Local 7.
“The wage gap between Baltimore and neighboring D.C. and Philadelphia cannot keep growing. The Hilton is owned by the city. What happens here will send a message to all of Baltimore about how we do or do not value workers and their families.”
RELATED CONTENT: Hilton workers’ union sits down with city leaders, no deal yet with hotel chain
The one day strike in Baltimore comes after months of contract negotiations. Their previous contract extension expired on Thursday, August 29th, 2024.
"Hilton has an established track record of successfully negotiating labor agreements with UNITE HERE Local 7 and is committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that is beneficial to both our valued team members and to our hotels," the hotel chain told WMAR in a statement earlier this month.
Workers across the U.S. are calling for higher wages, fair staffing and workloads, and the reversal of COVID-era cuts.
The union says that too many hotels took advantage of the pandemic by cutting staffing and suspending guest services that were never restored, causing workers to lose jobs and income.
The union is asking guests of any hotels on strike to not eat, sleep or use any services until negotiations are met. They are asking consumers to use the union’s Labor Dispute Map to determine which hotels are on strike and opt for an alternative.
