On Labor Day, support Westin Hotel workers

In Seattle and across nation, we’ll tell Marriott: One job should be enough!

SEATTLE — There’s no better day to march with workers fighting for a better future than Labor Day! On Monday, Sept. 3, union members and community supporters are urged to show support for some of the hardest working women and men in King County: hotel workers.

Seattle Westin workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 8 and their supporters will hold a demonstration at 4:30 p.m. on Labor Day at the Westin, 1900 5th Ave., in downtown Seattle to demand that Marriott, the world’s biggest and richest hotel company, provide one job that is enough for hotel workers.

One job should be enough to live in Seattle, the city where we work.
One job should be enough to provide for our families.
One job should be enough – where we are respected and safe.
One job should be enough to retire with dignity.

Alongside workers in Boston, San Francisco, Honolulu, San Diego, Detroit, San Jose and Oakland, hotel workers are calling on Marriott to set the standard in the hotel industry and make one job enough to live on. (Please RSVP for the Labor Day action in Seattle at the event’s Facebook page.)

After five years, the contract for the nearly 400 Westin Seattle workers expired on May 31. This is the first time that Local 8 members have been at the bargaining table with Marriott, which acquired the Westin’s former operator Starwood in 2016.

Hundreds of UNITE HERE Local 8 members took to the street on June 28 in a show of power as they organize for a new contract.

In addition to demanding Marriott provide jobs that are enough for workers to live on in Seattle and other high-cost cities, workers are calling on Marriott to protect their ability to serve guests, use technology to innovate, not cut, human service, and offer stronger protections for safety at work, including from sexual harassment.

This demonstration of hotel worker power comes shortly after the July 1 effective date for the administrative rules for the Seattle Hotel Employees Health and Safety Initiative. These rules pave the way for Seattle hotel workers to take action to enforce their rights under Initiative 124, which was approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2016 and granted workers panic buttons and other protections from sexual harassment and workplace injury.

Yesterday, housekeepers packed the room for negotiations at the Westin Seattle. Join us this Labor Day as we demand that the richest hotel corporation in the world step up for the people who made them the biggest and richest. See you in the streets! #1job https://t.co/QcBIAKuIbb pic.twitter.com/pszdd9eKzS

— UNITE HERE! Local 8 (@UniteHereLocal8) August 29, 2018