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Thousands of hotel workers are on strike. Here’s a list of hotels that are impacted.
Ten thousand hotel workers across the U.S. went on strike beginning Sunday, with employees at major chains including Marriott and Hyatt walking off the job in cities including Boston, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle. The strike comes as millions of Americans are traveling over the busy Labor Day weekend.
The Unite Here union, which represents more than 40,000 workers, has been locked in contract negotiations with several big hotel chains, including Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni.
In a statement on Sunday, the union said it’s seeking higher wages, fairer workloads and the reversal of pandemic-era job cuts. Some hotel workers must take on a second job to make ends meet, even as room rates have hit record highs and hotel chains are booking billions in annual profits, Unite Here claims.
“Since COVID, they’re expecting us to give five-star service with three-star staff,” Elena Duran, a server at Marriott’s Palace Hotel in San Francisco for 33 years, said in the Unite Here statement. “A couple weeks ago, we were at 98% occupancy, but they only put three servers when we used to be a team of four or five. It’s too much pressure on us to go faster and faster instead of calling in more people to work.”
How long will the strike last?
The strikes are scheduled to last up to three days at each of the hotels, according to the union, which is urging travelers to avoid eating, sleeping or meeting at any hotel where workers are striking.
Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s head of labor relations for the Americas, said the company’s hotels have contingency plans to minimize the impact of the strikes. “We are disappointed that Unite Here has chosen to strike while Hyatt remains willing to negotiate,” he said.
In a statement before the strikes began, Hilton said it was “committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements.”
Marriott didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here’s a list of hotels where workers are striking, along with the number of days the strike is expected to last at each location, according to Unite Here.
Baltimore
- Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor — 1 day
Boston
- Fairmont Copley Plaza — 3 days
- Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites by Hilton Boston Seaport — 3 days
- Hilton Boston Logan Airport — 3 days
- Hilton Boston Park Plaza — 3 days
Greenwich, Connecticut
- Hyatt Regency Greenwich — 3 days
Honolulu
- Hilton Hawaiian Village — 3 days
- Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach — 3 days
- The Royal Hawaiian (Marriott Luxury Collection) — 3 days
- Sheraton Princess Kaiulani (Marriott) — 3 days
- Sheraton Waikiki (Marriott) — 3 days
- Waikiki Beach Marriott — 3 days
- Westin Moana Surfrider (Marriott) — 3 days
Kauai, Hawaii
- Sheraton Kauai Resort (Marriott) — 3 days
San Francisco
- Grand Hyatt Union Square — 3 days
- Hilton Union Square — 3 days
- Westin St. Francis (Marriott) — 3 days
- Palace Hotel (Marriott Luxury Collection) — 3 days
- Grand Hyatt SFO — 3 days
San Diego
- Hilton San Diego Bayfront — 2 days
San Jose
- DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose — 3 days
- Signia by Hilton San Jose — 3 days
Seattle
- DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport — 2 days
- Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center — 2 days
- Westin Seattle (Marriott) — 2 days
—with reporting by the Associated Press.
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Paul Whelan, freed in prisoner swap with Russia, tells other American detainees: “We’re coming for you”
Washington — Nearly seven weeks after the Russians handed over Paul Whelan on a tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, the Marine veteran stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with a message for other Americans who are held abroad.
“We’re coming for you,” he told reporters Tuesday night after he met with lawmakers. “It might take time, but we’re coming.”
Whelan said he spoke with lawmakers about how the government can better support detainees after they’re released.
“We spoke about how the next person’s experience could be better,” he said. “What the government could do for the next person that’s held hostage and comes home — the care and support that other people might need, especially people that are in a worse situation. There are people coming back that lived in the dirt without shoes for three years, people that were locked up in hideous conditions for 20 years. They need support.”
The U.S. secured Whelan’s release in August in one of the largest prisoner swaps since the end of the Cold War. The complex deal came after months of sensitive negotiations between the U.S., Russia, Germany, Slovenia, Poland and Norway.
As part of the deal, Russia released 16 prisoners while the Western countries released eight Russians. Whelan was released alongside Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. green card holder and Kremlin critic.
Whelan, who had been the longest-held American detainee in Russia, was arrested in December 2018 when he traveled to the country to attend a friend’s wedding. He was convicted of espionage in a secret trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Whelan, his family and the U.S. government vehemently denied that he was a spy and accused Russia of using him as a political pawn. The U.S. government considered him to be wrongfully detained, a rare designation that put more government resources toward securing his release.
But a deal to secure his freedom was long elusive. He remained behind bars as Russia freed Marine veteran Trevor Reed and women’s basketball star Brittney Griner — both of whom were detained after Whelan’s arrest — in prisoner swaps with the U.S.
The U.S. said it pushed for his inclusion in both exchanges, but Russia refused. It led to Whelan advocating for his own release from a remote prison camp, calling government officials and journalists to make sure that he wasn’t forgotten.
When the plane carrying Whelan, Gershkovish and Kurmasheva landed in Maryland on Aug. 1, Whelan was the first to disembark. He was greeted by President Biden, who gave Whelan his American flag pin, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Whether he likes it or not, he changed the world,” Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat, told reporters Tuesday.
Whelan’s case and his family’s constant pressure on the U.S. government brought more attention to the cases of Americans who are wrongfully detained by foreign governments.
Haley said Whelan is a reminder to other Americans considering traveling to Russia that “you have a target on your back.”
Whelan said it’s been an adjustment acclimating to life back in the U.S., especially learning the latest technology like his iPhone 15.
“I was in a really remote part of Russia,” he said. “We really didn’t have much. The conditions were poor. The Russians said the poor conditions were part of the punishment. And coming back to see this sort of thing now is a bit of a shock, but it’s a good shock.”