Hotel Workers Launch Mariott Wardman Picket & Boycott
Thursday, April 19, 2012
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Hotel workers launched a picket line and boycott at the Marriott Wardman Park
Hotel Thursday morning after contract talks broke down over healthcare, wages
and pension issues. “This is the culmination of an 18-month struggle to get a
contract” at the Marriott Wardman, Unite Here Local 25 Executive
Secretary-Treasurer John Boardman told Union
City from the early-morning picket line. Local 25 represents some 725
hotel workers at the Mariott Wardman. “Having a union on your side means a lot
to my family, to me, and to my coworkers,” said Marriott doorman Solomon
Samson. “I don’t think I could have
worked here for 30 years without the union.” Local 25 voted Wednesday night to
authorize the “walk and work” picket line, which will run 7a-7p daily; a
strike vote has not yet been taken. Local 25 is urging supporters to boycott the hotel
and to email Marriott Wardman General Manager Dan Nadeu “to make a fair deal
with DC's hotel workers.” Click here
for details on the campaign, including links to other hotels, a 1-click letter
to Nadeu, and a video of Samson Solomon talking about his union and his job.
- report/photos by Chris Garlock