Boston For almost two months, UNITE HERE! Local 26 hotel workers have been striking to demand the living wages and expanded benefits that management has denied them for years. The strike wave began on Sept. l when over 1,000 Boston and Greenwich, Connecticut, hotel workers walked off the job. Rol

Yuri Yep, a restaurant server at Omni Parker House said: “I’m on strike, because I work two jobs in order to provide for my family. I’m always rushing, and I don’t even have time to see my kids. I’m missing out on my own life. It’s ridiculous that I’m living this way when the hotel companies make record profits. They can afford what we’re asking for, and we’ll be out on strike until we win for all of our families.” (unitehere.org, Oct. 14)

At both the massive Oct. 6 Boston Coalition for Palestine march and Oct. 12 Indigenous Peoples Day action, demonstrators joined the Local 26 picket lines at the Hilton Park Plaza Hotel. These were tremendous shows of solidarity between hotel workers and Indigenous activists fighting against centuries of capitalist genocide and exploitation. (workers.org/2024/10/81456/); (workers.org/2024/10/81220/)

On Oct. 25, 500 UNITE HERE! members and their allies rallied at the Park Plaza. Addressing the crowd, Brian Doherty, General Agent for the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions, made clear the irreconcilable conflict between shareholders and the workers they exploit. At issue, Doherty stressed, was a fight over whether Hilton’s profits should go towards extra dividends for billionaire investors or towards living wages for employees.

Kevin Hanes, a leader of the strike, added: “We need to pay our rent and have just one job to take care of our families. In our union we fight for one standard in this city and we will fight till we get it.”

Carlos Arâmyo, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, declared, “We will fight for what we are worth, and we know how to win.”

Although the hotel industry recently reported $100 billion in profits, many hotel employees report working two or more jobs to offset rising costs of living. Pandemic staffing cuts have forced workers to take on extra tasks during their working hours with no additional compensation.

Following the speeches by union leaders, dozens of workers and demonstrators joined the picket line outside the Park Plaza entrance. Drumming, blaring horns and chants of “Make them pay!” kept crowd energy surging. The noise shook the air and carried to the Boston Common, several blocks away.