Striking Seattle hotel workers want more than the $1 annual raises their employer is offering, and they want a heads-up from management when immigrant enforcement agents are on site.
As tourists pack Seattle for the FIFA World Cup, workers are striking the hotel across the street from the soccer stadium normally known as Lumen Field.
Represented by UNITE HERE Local 8, 117 front desk, housekeeping, and food and beverage workers at Embassy Suites by Hilton Downtown Pioneer Square walked out June 18, the day before the U.S. vs. Australia soccer game. That’s after the union contract expired May 31 with the two sides still significantly apart. Local 8 is proposing $3 per hour increases this year and next year; Hilton is proposing $5.35 per hour over five years, and only for non-tipped workers. The union also wants to expand employer-provided health insurance, because during the tourism off-season workers aren’t scheduled for enough hours and lose their coverage.
Immigration enforcement has also become a flash point. UNITE HERE Local 8 spokesperson Jake Douglas told the Labor Press hotel workers were concerned about the increased presence of immigration enforcement agents during the World Cup.
“We’ve seen DHS officers around the hotel, people have reported them being inside the hotel before the World Cup, and folks who have legal status don’t trust that they’re not going to be deported or abducted,” Douglas says.
Local 8 proposed that hotel management notify workers if immigration agents are in the building and allow workers to call out without penalty if so, but the company declined. The hotel is owned by Steinhauer Properties and managed by Hilton.
Is the strike having an effect? An estimated 750,000 visitors are in Seattle for the World Cup and a record 280,000 took the light rail the day of the U.S. vs. Australia game, yet the hotel’s website has shown vacancies throughout the tournament. Daily housekeeping has been suspended during the strike and Teamsters-represented drivers have refused to cross the picket line to pick up garbage, Douglas said.
“We aren’t going back until we win,” Douglas says.
