CT Workers Strike and Organize on Labor Day

 

133 Unite Here Local 217 members at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich were among the 10,000 hotel workers in 12 states who went on strike on Labor Day weekend after prolonged negotiations for living wages, pensions and healthcare.

Holding signs that said “Make Them Pay,” the striking housekeepers, cooks, servers, bartenders and bellmen were joined by a bus load of Unite Here members from Yale. “America thanks you,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal. “You are striking for all workers.”

Each car that entered or exited was handed a flier urging patrons “do not meet, eat, or sleep at this hotel while workers are on strike.”

“I’m on strike because I need more wages, I need the health insurance, and I need less rooms because I work so hard and I come home exhausted at the end of the day but I still don’t make enough money to pay my bills,” said Rebeca Laroque, a room attendant for 12 years. “Going on strike is a huge sacrifice but I need a better life for me and my two kids.” 

The US hotel industry made over $100 billion in gross profit in 2022, and hotel executives at Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott made $596 million in total between 2020 and 2023.  Meanwhile, U.S. hotel staffing per occupied room was down 13% as many hotels nationwide have kept COVID-era service cuts in place,.

“Hotel workers are fighting for their economic lives,” said Josh Stanley, Secretary Treasurer Local 217 UNITE HERE. “The hotel industry is making massive profits, but wages just aren’t enough to support our families.” 

Two days earlier, several hundred union members gathered in Meriden at the Connecticut AFL-CIO Labor Breakfast to kick off their outreach to union members for the elections. Congresswoman Jahana Hayes told the workers she is fighting every day to hold the benefits won by the working class. “Raising wages, affordable housing and health care contribute to the economy,” said Hayes who has been targeted by the national Republican party in the Fifth Congressional District. “We are not going back,” she exclaimed to a standing ovation.

Also on the Labor Day weekend was a celebration of a new book about the People Before Profits campaigns of Joelle Fishman from 1974 to 1982 on the Communist Party ticket. The campaigns are credited with creating a more pro-worker political climate in the Third Congressional District. Participants at the book launch were urged to volunteer to get out a landslide vote for democracy over fascism in November's elections.