Hotel workers take strike vote

Vote comes as Seattle hotels prepare to host thousands of fans for the FIFA World Cup

SEATTLE, WA (June 3, 2026) — Hotel workers at Hilton’s Embassy Suites Pioneer Square in Seattle will take a strike authorization vote on Friday, June 5. Once authorized, UNITE HERE Local 8 could call a strike at anytime, setting up a potential work stoppage at a hotel mere steps from the stadium where World Cup games will be played starting June 15.

In Los Angeles, workers at Sofi Stadium, which is set to host the World Cup opener on June 12, are also taking a strike vote this week. UNITE HERE Local 11 reports that workers at the stadium have been without a contract for more than a year.

The contract covering workers at the Pioneer Square Embassy Suites expired on May 31, and contract negotiations have been ongoing for months. On Monday, worker leaders delivered a petition to hotel management showing that a supermajority of workers pledged to vote yes to strike. Local 8 also notified Hilton to terminate the contract.

Photo: UNITE HERE Local 8

Workers are pushing for meaningful raises, as rapidly increasing costs eat into the purchasing power of wages. Currently the hotel is only offering an average wage increase of less than one dollar a year over the next five years.

“The market right now is bad for the whole country,” says Stiliano Hibroj, an Embassy Suites banquet houseman. “Housing, bills, groceries – everything costs more. The raises the hotel is offering are ridiculous.”

Workers are also deeply concerned about ICE agents being present at the hotel during the World Cup. So far, the employer has rejected workers’ proposal that management notify workers when they know ICE or CBP are on hotel property.

Workers rallied on May Day in front of the hotel and marched to local World Cup offices to protest hotel management and FIFA’s refusal to push back against possible ICE presence at the hotel and nearby stadium.

“As a brown woman, I know ICE does not care whether you are a U.S. citizen,” said Dom Kaur, a front desk agent. “What they are doing goes against my core moral beliefs. My dad needed asylum and as a lawyer now helps others. It is wrong for our bosses to sit there and say they cannot do anything about it.”

With the World Cup projected to bring tens of thousands of visitors to Seattle through July, workers and supporters are putting the pressure on to ensure the hotels that stand to profit share the wealth with workers.

In the words of community member Winne Luo, “This hotel stands to make so much money in this next month from FIFA alone, and they can’t even spare a dollar or two dollars in annual raises for the workers. I think that is outrageous.”