1,500 Hotel Workers & Janitors March Through Downtown San Francisco

Via – Ted Waechter of UNITE HERE Local 2

Image: Glenn Mercado

Labor Disputes Loom as Workers Demand Raises, Health Care, and Fair Workloads

San Francisco, Calif. — Over 1,500 janitors and hotel workers marched through downtown San Francisco on May Day in a protest for higher wages, affordable health care, and better workloads. Union contracts covering 5,000 janitors and 10,000 Bay Area hotel workers are set to expire this summer, and workers say the march was intended to show their employers that they are ready for possible labor disputes. The workers include janitors in downtown office buildings with the SEIU Local 87 union, as well as hotel housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers, bartenders, bellmen, and doormen with hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE Local 2.

Janitors with the SEIU Local 87 union clean offices for Google, Meta, and other major office tenants. They are preparing for possible labor disputes with janitorial services including CBRE, SBM, Blackstone, and JLL and calling for higher wages, affordable health care, and better workloads.

“This May Day, workers are telling the owners they deserve better.”

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Image: Glenn Mercado

“The hardworking janitors who clean offices in San Francisco are powering our downtown recovery, but they are struggling to provide for their own families,” said Olga Miranda, President of SEIU Local 87. “These workers serve some of the biggest, richest companies in the world. San Francisco’s recovery depends on working families. This May Day, workers are telling the owners they deserve better.”

Hotel workers are preparing for possible widespread labor disputes at brands including Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt. They are calling for hotels to raise wages, fix painful workloads, and to protect against cuts to services and amenities.

Image: Glenn Mercado

The San Francisco march is part of a coordinated day of action by thousands of hotel workers in almost 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Union contracts covering 40,000 workers – including 10,000 in the Bay Area – are up for renegotiation this year. Since the onset of the pandemic, many hotels nationwide have scaled back services and staffing, while the hotel industry’s gross operating profit was 26.63% higher in 2022 than 2019.

“I take so much pride in welcoming guests to our city, but the hotel is making it harder than ever,” said Nicholas Javier, a server at Marriott’s Westin St. Francis for ten years. “Business is unpredictable these days, but the restaurant used to staff nine workers on our busy days, and now we’re down to six even when it’s just as busy. I used to have time to connect with my guests and welcome them to San Francisco, but now I feel like a machine because I only have time to take the order and run. Not only does that hurt the guests, but it also hurts me because I’m stretched so thin that of course customers leave fewer tips. It’s time for hotels to reverse staffing cuts so we can give our guests the service we know we’re capable of.”

“I am ready to fight for my family’s health care”

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Image: Glenn Mercado

“I am ready to fight for my family’s health care,” said Jessica Li, a housekeeper at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square for 16 years. “One time my daughter had to go to the emergency room. If I didn’t have my health insurance, it would have cost me over $3000. That would have been a big burden on my family. The hotel can show that they respect our work by protecting our health care.”

“This campaign is about the future of the Bay Area’s hospitality workers and our hospitality industry,” said Lizzy Tapia, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “We don’t want to see hotels go the way of the airline industry, where customers feel they’re constantly paying more and getting less. Cooking, cleaning, and customer service are hard jobs, and Bay Area hotel workers are determined to win respect, fair workloads that enable them to give the best service, and good wages and health care to support their families.”