On Labor Day, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris spent time in Detroit and Pittsburgh, where she declared, “It’s always good to be in the house of labor.” Her presidential campaign’s focus on labor should extend beyond the holiday, as well as into other “houses of labor” beyond these traditional enclaves and into regions where farmworkers and others need attention.
In particular, Harris needs to address the growing hotel workers’ strike, much in the manner she did back in January in Nevada for casino workers.
If she said anything about the hotel workers’ strike, it paled in comparison to her concerns about workers at the point of production in manufacturing. When hotel workers in Baltimore joined the massive strike against major hotel chains, it intensified a need for Harris to speak out more forcefully on this issue.
The strike at hotels is now occurring in nine major cities, with more than 10,000 workers at 25 hotels from Boston to Hawaii on strike early Sunday. Although a good number returned to work on Tuesday, a considerable number continue to walk the picket lines, demanding an increase in salaries, better working conditions, and more staff help, including workers deployed in the daily cleaning of rooms.
The Unite Here union, which represents more than 40,000 workers, has been locked in contract negotiations with several big hotel chains, including Hilton, Marriott, Omni, and Hyatt.
“I walked out today because we just cannot keep working paycheck to paycheck, not able to pay our bills,” said Jerome Roberts, a dishwasher at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, in a statement. “Going on strike is hard, but not nearly as hard as trying to get by on what we are getting paid. We told the bosses in our negotiations how much we are struggling right now, but they didn’t care. We are on strike to make them pay.”
Hotels in Baltimore are feeling the impact of the strike, but those in New York City seem to be going along with business as usual, at least for the moment.
As they deal with labor issues, Harris and her team should not ignore the complaints of hotel workers because their plight can quickly become a problem in the last few weeks of the campaign.
Is my room ready?