Hotel Workers May Strike

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

After nearly four months without a contract – and with area hotels gearing up for next week’s Inauguration festivities – hotel workers are stepping up pressure on hotel management to win a fair citywide hotel settlement. More than 3,500 local workers may strike 14 hotels before the Inaugural events if they are not able to secure a fair contract settlement by January 15, reports UNITE HERE Local 25, which has been negotiating with the hotel association since August 2004.  The next round of negotiations is scheduled for today. Daily informational leafleting began last Friday and continues daily at multiple locations in downtown Washington. Volunteers are needed to help hotel workers the word out about their struggle to guests at the hotels, click here now to sign up now for leafleting. Inauguration attendees “may have to carry their own luggage, make their own beds, and give up luxuries like room service and clean towels,” says Kimberly Murray, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill. In addition to such inconveniences, events scheduled for affected hotels could be understaffed or cancelled. The Presidential Inaugural Committee’s own Candlelight Dinner and Constitution Ball, for example, are scheduled at hotels where employees may be on strike.