Boston hotel workers strike

Hotel workers in the Boston area are preparing for a strike after the deadline for a new contract passed at midnight.

Nearly 5,000 hotel workers are threatening a strike that would impact 36 hotels. This could have a major impact in Boston as well as Cambridge, Massachusetts.

STAY IN THE KNOW

	Watch NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are.
	Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.

The sticking points during contract negotiations include healthcare, pensions and wages. Workers are also fighting to restore better service to guests, which many feel has lacked since the pandemic.

UNITE HERE Local 26 says there has been months of deadlock with no deal in sight.

Get top local stories in Boston delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Boston's News Headlines newsletter.

“The industry has fully recovered from COVID, we need a significant amount of money in wages up front to make up for the lost income that have had over the last couple of years,” union president Carlos Aramayo said.

Hotel workers have walked off the job in three waves since September 1. Each strike targeted a handful of hotels and lasted three days. Now workers are threatening a major escalation. Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston

This strike would be different than others because it's what's called an "open-ended" strike, meaning workers can walk off the job and not return until they have a new contract. This kind of larger, more long-term strike would be a major escalation after smaller strikes that affected a handful of hotels for a couple of days had been happening since Sept. 1.

Aramayo says these are everyday, hard-working people who are ready to stand up for themselves.

“They’re people who made the decision that they are worth something. They are working people who work with their hands everyday. They get dirty every day going to work, cleaning these rooms including dishes and cooking food and providing the service that guests expect. And they’ve decided that they are worth something and that they are worth something that will allow them to continue to live in the city, to be part of this community, to have their families prosper and they’ve decided that they are going to stand up and fight for that and they are going to make this industry pay no matter what it takes,” he said.

The major hotel brands in the area have yet to comment on the negotiations.