More than 200 Hilton hotel workers in Baltimore went on strike Monday for one day — the most recent salvo in an escalating conflict over wages and working conditions at the city-owned hotel.
The Labor Day action could be a precursor to a more sustained work stoppage, and is likely aimed at persuading the city, which owns the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, to budge on its employees’ demands.
Some 40,000 hotel workers represented by the UNITE HERE union are renegotiating contracts this year in more than 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada.
The strike, by members of UNITE HERE Local 7, is one of a series of walk-outs in eight other cities: Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, and Seattle.
“Baltimore hotel workers are fighting for our economic lives,” union president Tracy Lingo said in a news release.
“The wage gap between Baltimore and neighboring D.C. and Philadelphia cannot keep growing. … What happens here will send a message to all of Baltimore about how we do or do not value workers and their families.”
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