Hotel workers announce strike vote at Omni Providence rally
Workers have been without a contract since January.
Today more than a hundred UNITE HERE Local 26 hotel workers rallied in front of the Omni Providence hotel. They were supported by Providence City Council President Rachel Miller and Rhode Island United States Representative Seth Magaziner.
Here’s the video:
Union contracts at the Omni Providence and two other Providence hotels have expired or are set to expire this year. Angered by bargaining sessions where hotel owners have proposed insufficient wage increases and inadequate job protections, workers holding picket signs and photo petitions marched and chanted “Make Them Pay!” directed at the Omni Providence Hotel. The Union announced that a strike vote would be held on August 7th.
UNITE HERE Local 26 members in Providence are joining thousands of hospitality workers across the United States and Canada as bargaining continues at major hotel brands including Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and Omni. In Providence and Boston, more than 30 contracts covering 5,500 workers have expired or are set to expire, including at the Omni Providence Hotel, the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel, and the Graduate Providence. Local 26 hotel workers in Boston held a similar action on July 17 in front of the newly unionized Hyatt Regency Boston, where the Union is set to begin contract negotiations.
Hotel workers said that the economy is not working for them: their current wages are not enough to cover the rising cost of housing, groceries, and childcare. The hotel industry is making matters worse by habitually under-scheduling and understaffing to save on labor costs. To stop this downward mobility and safeguard the future of their families, workers need a significant boost in their wages and benefits. Full-time hotel workers in Providence said they must earn at least $26 an hour by 2028 to make ends meet. Room attendants have called for safer workloads and adequate staffing and supplies.
“What’s most important for me is a significant raise,” said George Cook, a Banquet Houseperson who has worked at the Omni Providence for over 25 years. “My rent has gone up $500 in the last two years. Most of my paycheck goes towards my rent, so it’s tougher for me to buy things at the store.”
“I work seven days a week,” said Shakira Abad Payano, a Room Inspector at the same hotel who works two jobs to survive. “I am fighting for a raise because I want to give a better life for my children, so they can go to good schools and go on vacation. Much more important, I want to be able to buy a house.”
“I want to start with gratitude,” said Representative Seth Magaziner, addressing the workers. “I want to thank you because of the work you put in, day in and day out. You make the city run, you make the state run, and it is time that you get paid what you deserve. Everything is going up, prices have gone up, profits have gone up, and it is time for the worker pay to go up too.
“It is not fair that all over the country, big companies are making more and more money, keeping more for themselves and not giving their employees - who do the work - the compensation and respect they deserve. That has to change right here and right now.
“So I am proud to stand with all of you,” continued Representative Magaziner. “I am proud to stand with Unite Here. You have a great union, a powerful union, a union that is known all across the country for getting results. So stick with it. Keep fighting. You're fighting not just for yourselves and your families, but for working people all across the country. Keep it up. I'm proud to stand with you.”
“Never forget - and I know you haven't because you're out here today - that the work you do creates the wealth the Omni depends on,” said Providence City Council President Rachel Miller. “The work you do creates that wealth and it is past time for this and other corporations to honor that [and] pay people what they need. One of my favorite Unite Here signs says "One Job Should Be Enough." It is time to stand together and fight for that one job and fight for the respect, dignity, and wages that we all deserve. I am so proud to be here with you. I will be here with you again as long as it takes. Thank you all so much.”
While workers struggle to make a living, the hotel industry is raking in the wealth. Hotel profits nationally soared 26.63% from 2019 to 2022, and room rates have increased from $271 in 2019 to $392 in October 2023. Hotel workers want their fair share.
“Our members are the heart of hospitality in Providence and Boston,” said Carlos Aramayo, President of UNITE HERE Local 26 in a statement. “These hotels don’t run without them. But they are tired of waiting for respect and a better future. After months of negotiations, we’re still too far apart on the issues that matter to hotel workers and their families – like wages that cover the cost of living and workloads that are safe and sustainable. Today workers have shown that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract.”
UNITE HERE Local 26 represents workers in the hospitality industries of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our members work in Boston and Providence’s best hotels, restaurants, and university dining halls in addition to the cities’ convention centers and airports. We clean hotel rooms, greet guests and prepare and serve food for hundreds of thousands of travelers to the Northeast.
