WHO: Striking Hilton hotel workers – members of the UNITE HERE Local 2 union – will vote on ratifying a tentative agreement for a new contract.

WHAT: Ratification vote. Three-month strike will end if the majority of workers vote to approve the new contract.

WHERE: Local 2 union office, 209 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco.

WHEN: Ratification vote 9am-3pm, followed by vote count and live announcement of results. Media are welcome.

WHY: After 93 days on strike, hotel workers with the UNITE HERE Local 2 union have reached a tentative agreement for a new contract at Hilton hotels in San Francisco. If workers approve the deal at a ratification vote tomorrow, the strike will conclude at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. The agreement is the same as was ratified by striking Hyatt and Marriott workers last week.

The tentative agreement at Hilton would cover approx. 900 workers, including 650 workers who have been on strike for over three months at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square as well as 250 workers who had been prepared to strike at Hilton’s Parc 55 hotel. It matches the terms of the deal signed by Hyatt and Marriott, including:

• Preserving workers’ union health insurance plan, which provides quality affordable health care for workers and their families.
• Wage increases throughout the life of the contract.
• New protections against understaffing and workload increases.
• Four-year term, expiring in 2028.

“These 93 days have not been easy, and I’m so proud that my coworkers and I never gave up,” said Bill Fung, a janitor at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square for 29 years. “We stood together through the rain and cold, and even though there were some hard days, it was all worth it. We will go back to work with our health care, good raises, and the confidence of knowing that when we fight, we win.”

“San Francisco hotel workers are unbreakable,” said Lizzy Tapia, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott workers refused to give up their health care or go backwards – and we proved on the picket line that we’re not afraid of a tough fight. As contract talks begin with the city’s other full-service hotels in the new year, they should know that this is the new standard they must accept for their own employees.”

Over 10,000 hotel workers have gone on strike in eleven cities across the U.S. since Labor Day. The strike in San Francisco began on Sept. 22 and grew to include 2,500 hotel workers.

#

UNITE HERE Local 2 is the hospitality workers’ union in San Francisco, San Mateo County, and the East and North Bay, representing over 15,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, tech cafeterias, sports stadiums, and at SFO and OAK.