This could be pretty dire, if it comes true. According to an article in the New York Daily News, the national Unite Here labor union is urging its locals to strike specifically negotiate separately with Hilton properties this summer as part of its campaign to leverage its muscle when the contract in several cities come due. From the article:
- "We've decided to isolate Hilton because they are the most recalcitrant and belligerent employer in the industry," said Peter Ward, president of the New York Hotel Trades Council...
Labor agreements with the city's 25,000 hotel workers expire July 1. But bargaining starts later this month, and Ward has already made it clear to the hotel owners association that he will insist on two separate sets of talks - one with Hilton and one with everybody else.
And New York is not the only place the Hilton chain is facing the isolation treatment.
Other locals of UNITE-HERE, the national hotel workers union, are pursuing the same strategy in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Boston, Chicago and Washington.
Watch for this fight to heat up as time for the contracts to expire grows closer.
In other labor union news: Change to Win Unions Mobilize at More than 100 Hotels in Support of Hotel Workers Rising Campaign. This time, they're targeting non-union Hiltons and Starwood properties.
Update: One of my colleagues has been following up on this, and neither Unite Here nor Hilton is talking. I'm guessing the New York Hotel Trades Council spoke out of turn on this one.