Striking Battery Wharf Hotel workers march through the North End on October 4. (Karyn Regal/WBZ NewsRadio)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — After 79 days, the Harbor Wharf Hotel strike is over.
Hotel employees walked the picket line for more than eleven weeks, asking for enough money to work just one job, health care, and a safe working environment. They reached a tentative agreement Thursday, and on Friday afternoon, the strikers, members of the UNITE HERE Local 26 union, voted 100 percent in favor of a new contract.
Included in that contract are protections related to immigration, technology, and sexual harassment, as well as guarantees of affordable healthcare, raises, and a pension.
The sexual harassment and sexual assault protections built into the contract include panic buttons for hotel workers, UNITE HERE Secretary-Treasurer Carlos Aromayo told WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal.
"We have language now that gets panic buttons, it gets workers to not have to work with guests that they feel are inappropriate, and frankly, if the situation gets serious enough, guests can be banned from the property."
Another housekeeper said the strike was hard, but worth it.
"At the end of the day, my risks paid off, and I'm a winner, I'm not a loser," she said.
The workers will be back on the job on Monday.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports
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