Boston: UNITE HERE Local 26 Mulling Action

At press time, negotiations to avert a hotel workers strike continued in Boston between UNITE HERE Local 26 and Starwood Hotels. Contracts at all union hotels in Boston have expired, and late last month union members overwhelmingly voted to give leaders the authority to call a strike.

A strike would only affect Starwood's four Boston properties: the Sheraton Boston Hotel, Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, the Westin Boston Waterfront and the Westin Copley Place. That's because the 5,000-member local earlier negotiated a so-called "me too" agreement with Boston's 15 unionized non-Starwood hotels, making Starwood the hotel negotiator for the entire city by default. If it reaches agreement with the union, the 15 other hotels will automatically agree to identical contracts. Union leaders have not asked their members for permission to strike any of the "me too" hotels.

Mark Anderson, general manager of the Sheraton Boston Hotel, who spoke on behalf of Starwood's Boston hotels, said a number of issues had been settled, including health care costs and workloads for housekeepers. The outstanding issue is wages, he added, and Starwood hoped for an agreement in line with recent hotel union contracts signed in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto.

Starwood's Boston properties are sufficiently staffed at the moment, but non-union employees from other Starwood properties in New England are prepared to come in if and when necessary. Hotels are beefing up security teams in case guests need to be escorted past picket lines.

"We want our guests to know that their stay, meeting or event will not be compromised at all," Anderson said.

Jim Rooney, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority executive director who oversees the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and Hynes Convention Center, characterized some of the many negotiating sessions as "two steps forward, one step back."

The only hotel next to the BCEC is the Starwood's Westin Boston Waterfront.

Starwood has assured the MCCA that it would continue operations even if a strike took place, unless there were a massive show of sympathy expressed by Boston shows or attendees. So far though, no show manager has expressed concern to the MCCA, Rooney added.

"None of us want a job action," he said. "Janice Loux (UNITE HERE Local 26 international vice president and business manager) doesn't want one. It's the nature of labor negotiations for there to be noise and chest thumping."

Loux did not respond to TSW's requests for comment.

A strike could affect the April 17–19 AIIM and On Demand Expo at the BCEC. Christine Condos, group show director for Questex Media, said all four Starwood hotels are in the show's room block. "It's under control and they're prepared, but nobody thinks a strike will happen. I don't anticipate a problem," she said.

Arthur Canter, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Lodging Assn., wasn't involved in the negotiations, but the MLA's New England Food Service and Lodging Exposition & Conference was scheduled April 1–3 at the BCEC. He said attendees were largely local, but a hotel strike could affect out-of-town attendees.

On March 28, Local 26 organized a rally attracting several hundred demonstrators to the front of the Sheraton. Kevin C. Maguire, MCCA chief of public safety, said his office worked with Boston police to implement traffic restrictions in and around the nearby Hynes Convention Center.