Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Democrats and union leaders joined striking hotel workers outside the Hilton Park Plaza in Boston Monday.
The Greater Boston Labor Council's annual Labor Day breakfast was moved from the hotel to outside in a show of solidarity with those on the picket line.
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Roughly 900 workers went on strike Sunday at four Boston hotels—Hilton Park Plaza, Fairmont Copley Plaza, Hilton Logan Airport, and Hilton-Hampton Inn Boston Seaport—after their contract expired.
Unite Here Local 26, which represents hospitality workers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, says they have spent months negotiating for higher wages so their members can afford to live on one salary.
1 of 4 Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
2 of 4 Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
3 of 4 Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
4 of 4 Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
"Our members, these hospitality workers, these hotel workers, are out here today on strike, and they’re on strike for what? They’re on strike for one job to be enough," said union president Carlos Aramayo Monday. "That’s what they really believe in. They believe that they should be able to go to work, earn a fair day’s wage, and be able to take care of their families and live in this economy."
The union is also seeking a better pension, fair staffing and workloads, and the reversal of pandemic-era cuts.
"We need laws to make it easier to form a union and to strengthen your right to walk out and make your voices heard on the picket line," Sen. Elizabeth Warren told workers.
"Labor Day is not just a holiday," said Gov. Maura Healey. "Labor Day is a day of action. It’s a day where we commit to the hardworking men and women who make everything possible. Labor built the middle class, labor built this country. It’s been that way, it will always be that way."
Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Mayor Michelle Wu, and other elected officials also attended the breakfast.
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