SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — More than 1,500 San Francisco hotel workers were off the job and on the picket line Sunday.
The hospitality employees are demanding a new contract, including better pay from three major hotel chains: Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott.
Cooks, servers, bellhops, housekeepers and more were striking at three hotels.
“We’ve been bargaining for months now, very far apart on key issues: healthcare, wages, our pension, fair workloads and returning people back to work are our key issues,” said UNITE HERE Local 2 President Lizzie Tapia.
Michelle Brown-Gordon is a hotel phone operator hoping to retire soon.
RELATED: Thousands of Bay Area hotel workers participate in nationwide strike
Striking hotel workers rallied outside The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square in San Francisco this Labor Day.
“The contract Hyatt is offering is garbage. I’m 64. I’ll be 65 in six months. I can’t retire without a good contract,” Brown-Gordon said.
“We need to pay our bills, mortgage, food, pay gas, everything’s expensive, that’s why we need to increase our wages,” said Grand Hyatt employee Ben Chen.
The strike follows months of contract negotiations between union workers and the hotels. This is a continuation of the strike, which happened over Labor Day weekend, when thousands of hotel workers walked off the job in several US cities, including San Francisco and San Jose.
Some hotel guests were surprised to see and hear a picket line out front.
“We weren’t expecting this loud ruckus. The kids were saying it’s too loud,” said hotel guest Alessia.
RELATED: More than 10,000 US hotel workers strike during Labor Day weekend
The strike action comes at a challenging time for San Francisco. Hotels and the tourism industry are still recovering from the pandemic.
“San Francisco is hurting right now, and this isn’t helping,” said hotel guest Debbie Vielbaum.
In a statement Hyatt said: “We are disappointed that UNITE HERE Local 2 has chosen to strike once again while Hyatt remains willing to continue bargaining in good faith. We have contingency plans in place to minimize impact on hotel operations related to strike activity.”
And this from Westin, owned by Marriott: “The Westin St. Francis remains open. We remain available to meet with the local union negotiating committee to reach an agreement that is fair to all parties.”
Striking hotel workers say they are willing to be off the job as long as it takes.
“I’m willing to be on the picket line until we win,” said Westin St. Francis employee Nicolas Javier.
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