Boston Mayor Michelle Wu rallied alongside hundreds union workers protesting the hiring of non-union labor in front of the Marriott Copley hotel Friday morning, urging picketers to keep fighting a “greedy corporation.”
It was the second time Wu has appeared at a labor protest outside the hotel. Marriott Copley has been targetted by unions since it fired 230 of its employees in 2020 and told them to reapply for their jobs.
“It is a shame that we are back here yet again in this very spot,” Wu told a crowd of hundreds, citing the ongoing pandemic recovery. “Some corporations [are] choosing to line their pockets, instead of recognizing this moment that we are in. Shame on them!”
Marriott International Inc. did not immediately respond to questions about its hiring practices at the hotel.
Hundreds of unionized carpenters, electricians, airline attendants and health care workers joined the picket line, which blocked the Huntington Avenue entrance to the hotel for hours. Airline workers said they would boycott the hotel, refusing to stay at the Marriott Copley on layovers. Health care workers said they were there to show support for families fighting for wages.
After her speech, Wu crossed Huntington Ave. to join a procession of workers circling the hotel entrance who were ringing cowbells, blowing whistles and chanting “Boston is a union town.”
Keisha Campbell, a Boston carpenter and union member attended the demonstration to show her support. She pointed upward at the rooms where Marriott Copley charges $265 or more a night. She accused Marriott’s corporate owners of hiring workers from out of state and bringing them to Boston to renovate rooms. She said they get paid less than union workers in Boston who need those jobs.
Undercutting wages to boost corporate profit is wrong, said Campbell, who’s been a carpenter for 24 years.
“That’s a big scam,” she said. “There’s a lot of our members in Boston who need the work.”
