Hotel Workers Launch Mariott Wardman Picket & Boycott

(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