More than 75 unionized employees at the Battery Wharf Hotel in the North End walked out on the job Thursday afternoon, announcing a formal strike after more than a year of failed contract negotiations.
Unite Here Local 26, a hotel worker's union responsible for the 46-day Marriott Hotel strike last year, says since then, nearly every hotel in the Greater Boston area has adopted some form of their proposed contract.
"This hotel is now an outlier," union organizer Carlos Aramayo said. "We've made some — but very little — progress, and frankly it is shocking, the position that this hotel has taken."
Battery Wharf employees are asking for a new contract with better pay and health insurance, protections for immigrants, African-Americans, and pregnant workers, and provisions to handle sexual harassment.
“We have never seen, in the 100-plus year history of Local 26, a hotel or a company take this position in bargaining,” Aramayo said. “They want to freeze wages, eliminate union benefits, and they most shockingly want to gut the immigrant rights language in their contract.”
Battery Wharf Hotel management and its owner, Westmont Hospitality Group, did not respond to requests for comment.
According to Aramayo, when the union attempted to negotiate with hotel management, the hotel only suggested taking current benefits away, including language to protect workers from sexual harassment and an African-American hiring initiative.
“We really have been trying to bargain in good faith,” Aramayo said. “And frankly, their position on immigration and their positions on the African-American hiring program are, in my opinion, racist.”
Housekeeper Fadima Tarawally said she has been struggling to take care of her four children on her salary and that she’s concerned about losing health insurance benefits.
“The Battery Wharf Hotel, they’re trying to put us backwards,” Tarawally said while striking outside the hotel. “One job should be enough, because I want to provide for my kids. This has been a long time coming.”
The unionized employees of Battery Wharf Hotel unanimously voted to strike over a month ago, and Aramayo described the decision to begin striking as a “last resort.” He said the timeline for the strike is “indefinite.”
“If you had asked me a year ago if we would be on strike at the Battery Wharf Hotel, I would not have believed that was possible,” Aramayo said. “But today you see 100 percent participation. The workers are determined, and they're going to be out here striking and picketing until this hotel hopefully comes to its senses.”
