Catherwood LibraryILR School

Nearly 2,500 hotel workers walked off jobs at seven Marriott properties in San Francisco, joining striking Marriott workers in Boston, Oakland, and San Jose – all of whom were calling for higher wages, workplace safety and job security. The strike in San Francisco comes during a busy convention season and did result in the cancelling of at least one event with 550 attendees - the annual gala event for the non-profit Shanti Project which supports serious or terminal illness patients. 98.6 percent of the more than 8,000 hotel workers represented by Unite Here Local 2 voted in late September to strike. The city’s biggest hotel employer is Marriott, which employs approximately 2,300 workers. Strikes were also authorized in Detroit, Honolulu, Maui, San Diego and Seattle to allow staff to join the picket lines.