Boston hotel strike expands as Omni workers join picket lines

BOSTON - The hotel workers strike in Boston expanded Monday. Union members at the Omni Parker House and the Omni Boston Seaport hotels walked off the job, joining workers who went on strike earlier this month at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza and Hilton at Logan Airport.

Boston hotels strike

The union, UNITE HERE Local 26 , launched a series of three-day temporary strikes at hotels in Boston in September.

This time, the union said workers at the four hotels will not go back to work until they have new contracts with Omni and Hilton.

More than 1,200 union members including cooks, dishwashers, room attendants, front desk and banquet workers at the four hotels want more money, automatic daily room cleaning and jobs that were cut during the pandemic returned. Many say they can't afford to feed their families so they've had to work more than one job.

"Housekeeping is not an easy job and then every day you're going home, its painful. Your body is painful, why don't (they) give us the money?" said striking housekeeper Siliva Pires De Pina.

The hotels are still open, but guests may end up with limited service.

Omni and Hilton hotels

There has been no comment yet from Omni on Monday's strike.

The company told WBZ-TV last month during a three-day strike they "won't comment on the status of the negotiations except to say that we remain committed to bargaining in good faith to reach a contract agreeable to all parties."

"They're going to be out here 24 hours a day, day in, day out until Omni Hotels sits down and negotiates the contract that these workers deserve," union president Carlos Aramayo told WBZ-TV Monday.

Hilton released a statement to CBS News back in September before the strikes started, saying it was "committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements."