San José Hotel Workers Rally Downtown, Demanding Better Wages and Benefits

Hundreds of hotel workers marched the streets of downtown San José Tuesday evening, calling for increased wages, affordable health care and job security from the chains that employ them.

The unionized workers include housekeepers, dishwashers, bellmen, front desk clerks, servers and engineers, among other critical service roles.

They are members of a local chapter of the massive hospitality union called Unite Here, which said the contracts for these workers expired in June with the management of five hotels in San José, including ones owned by Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt.

“I am here because I want a fair contract,” Anamaria Rodriguez told KQED, speaking through a union organizer who translated her words.

Rodriguez has worked as a housekeeper at Hilton San José for 23 years, she said, and in recent years, the workload has increased for her, and she has too many rooms to clean each day.

“The proposals have been put on the negotiating table, and I want to show the managers that we are here as a union in solidarity,” she said. “I hope that the company is listening to the workers because we are not going to give up.”

Unite Here said there are about 650 workers employed by the San José hotels who are currently negotiating for a new contract. Across the U.S. and Canada, more than 40,000 hotel workers in more than 20 cities also have contracts up for renegotiation.

Raquel Alvarez, president of Unite Here Local 19, said the union issued its first proposal to the hotels last week and expects to hear back in the next couple of weeks.

The union said many hotels have maintained lower levels of staffing stemming from cuts made at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as profits have rebounded since 2022.

The workers are upset about what the union described as heavy workloads, reduced hours, and pay that’s not enough to cover the cost of living in the pricey Bay Area.

“Our workers are very proud of the services that they provide. They’re pushing themselves. They love their jobs,” Alvarez said.

She said that the march early in the negotiating process will help make sure that the hotel owners “take into consideration all the hard work that the workers do every single day to make sure that the guest is happy when they are here.”

One of the union’s biggest asks is for a “substantial” raise for workers. Alvarez said the average worker in their union is currently earning about $27 per hour, about $56,000 annually, while the median rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the Bay Area is $2,925, according to Zillow.

The group is asking hotels to raise wages, restore pre-COVID staffing levels and guest services and offer protection against future cuts.

“Our hotels maintain a cooperative and productive relationship with Unite Here Local 19,” a spokesperson for Hilton told KQED in an emailed statement. “We remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that is beneficial to both our valued team members and to our hotels.”

A roughly 10-month period of multiple strikes by hotel workers in Los Angeles and Orange counties wrapped up earlier this year, with as many as 15,000 workers seeking improved contracts from a bevy of hotels in the region.

The Unite Here representatives involved in those negotiations said improved pay and benefits were at the core of newly inked deals, helping workers who keep the industry running.

The U.S. hotel industry saw big rebounds in 2022 and subsequent years coming out of the pandemic. While occupancy rates overall were still below 2019 levels, the average daily room rates and revenue per available room were the highest for any year on record in 2022, according to data from Smith Travel Research.

The research group noted that even though the recovery for hotels has been uneven and not linear, the industry also saw year-over-year growth in 2023.

In San José, demand is at 95% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Frances Wong, the director of marketing for Team San José, a nonprofit tourism bureau for the city.

Wong said more new hotels have recently opened outside of the downtown core, while full-service downtown hotel room inventory has contracted somewhat. While weekend demand is almost fully recovered, weekday bookings are still lagging due to slowdowns in business travel.

“We are seeing rapid improvements year after year,” Wong said, noting San Jose is a top performer in Bay Area hotel demand.

Jorge Zamudio has worked at the former Fairmont Hotel, now Signia by Hilton, for nearly 36 years. He’s currently a server for banquets and other events.

“I love my work, but I’m very concerned,” Zamudio said. He lived in San José for many years before moving to Modesto because it is more affordable.

He still rents a room in San José some nights so he can get to work more easily, and plans to retire in December. But he said he is marching for his colleagues who are struggling to afford high rents and other necessities for their families.

“The hotels charge a lot for banquets, and they charge good money on the rooms. So the (staff) deserves better salary and better benefits,” Zamudio said. “Everything is getting expensive in San José, and it’s very hard for the people.”