San Francisco Hotel Strikes are Over!

The Union says a new standard has been set for SF Hotel Workers, it was a very Merry Christmas for workers’ rights in San Francisco this year.

Via – Ted Waechter

After 93 days on strike, Hilton hotel workers with the UNITE HERE Local 2 union in San Francisco have voted by 99.4% to approve a new union contract with affordable health care, big raises, and new workload protections.

The Hilton ratification settles the last of the city’s 2024 hotel strikes, but the union cautions that more strikes are possible in 2025. The new contract is now in place at hotels operated by Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott. The union says it will demand that San Francisco’s other full-service hotels also accept this standard.,

The deal includes:

• Preserving workers’ union health insurance plan, which provides quality affordable health care for workers and their families.
• An immediate $3/hour wage increase and additional raises throughout the life of the contract.
• Increased pensions.
• New protections against understaffing and workload increases.
• Four-year term, expiring in 2028.

“These 93 days have not been easy, and I’m so proud that my coworkers and I never gave up,” said Bill Fung, a housekeeping attendant at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square for 29 years. “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.”

“San Francisco hotel workers are unbreakable,” said Lizzy Tapia, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “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.”

The strike in San Francisco began on Sept. 22 and grew to include 2,500 workers at hotels accounting for 27.5% of the city’s hotel rooms. The new contract at Hilton covers approx. 900 workers, including 650 who had been on strike at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and 250 who had been prepared to strike at Hilton’s Parc 55 hotel.

Over 10,000 hotel workers have gone on strike in eleven cities across the U.S. since Labor Day of 2024. The San Francisco strikes are the last to conclude.

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