SAN FRANCISCO
Hotel workers go on strike
Special to Workers World
San Francisco
The workers went on strike at four hotels in downtown San
Francisco on Sept. 29. UNITE HERE Local 2 announced the
two-week strike action in response to the hotel bosses' demands
for reduced health benefits as well as increased workloads.
The hotels on strike are the Argent, the Hilton San
Francisco, the Crowne Plaza Union Square and the Mark Hopkins
Inter-Continental. Support rallies were held at all four hotels
on the first day of the strike.
Hotel workers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.--also in
contract negotiations--declared their full support for the
strike in San Francisco. These union workers have also
authorized strikes if the hotel companies in their cities
refuse to give them a fair contract.
The union says that "some in the hotel industry are intent
upon imposing WalMart-like working conditions. Already in Los
Angeles, the hotel companies unilaterally cut the company-paid
health plan, forcing hundreds of families into the uninsured
population."
In San Francisco, the hotel bosses are attempting to cut
wages by charging the workers 20 times as much for their
medical coverage.
That's why, in that city, more than 8,000 union workers are
now on strike at more than 60 hotels and motels. This comes to
about 85 percent of the hotel industry in the city, according
to the union. Those organized in the union include cooks, room
cleaners, bartenders, assistants (bellhops), food and beverage
servers, bussers, maintenance workers and dishwashers.
Information on the strike can be found on the UNITE HERE Web
site at www.unitehere.org or at the hotel workers' site at
www.HotelWorkersUnited.org. UNITE HERE Local 2 has its own Web
site, which has current strike reports at www.unitehere2.org.
Local 2 also has a list of union hotels and motels that are not
on strike at www.unitehere2.org/ hotels.html, for anyone
needing accommodations in San Francisco.
Reprinted from the Oct. 7, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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