Fatima Amahmoud, a housekeeper at the Moxy hotel in downtown Boston, faces an overwhelming workload with up to 17 rooms to clean during each shift. The decline in room cleaning is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, as many hotels have encouraged guests to decline daily room cleaning as an environmentally friendly option to cut labor costs and cope with worker shortages. Unionized housekeepers, represented by the UNITE HERE union, have been fighting to restore daily room cleaning, citing unmanageable workloads and a decline in income due to these changes. Hotel workers have walked off the job in various cities, demanding higher wages and a reversal of service and staffing cuts.
The ongoing labor unrest in the hotel industry highlights the struggles faced by low-wage women, particularly women of color and immigrants who are overrepresented in front-facing service jobs. The pandemic has exacerbated the challenges faced by these workers, who have been impacted by chronic staffing shortages, reduced hours, and evolving travel trends. The UNITE HERE union is pushing for fair compensation for service workers in the hospitality industry, highlighting the undervaluation of this work that is predominantly done by women and people of color.
Despite efforts by the American Hotel And Lodging Association to attract workers, hotel employees continue to face challenges in the industry. Workers like Maria Mata, a housekeeper at the W Hotel in San Francisco, have seen reduced hours and struggle to make ends meet on their low wages. UNITE HERE has been successful in winning back daily room cleaning at some hotels in Honolulu and other cities following the pandemic, but the issue is still being debated in contract negotiations as many hotels seek to reduce services to cut costs.
The hotel industry has rebounded from the impact of the pandemic, but challenges remain for workers like Chandra Anderson, a housekeeper at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. Anderson, who is the sole breadwinner of her household, is fighting for higher hourly wages to afford basic necessities like groceries. UNITE HERE is pushing for increased wages and benefits for its members, emphasizing the importance of fair compensation for the hard work done by hotel workers, who are predominantly women of color and immigrants.
David Sherwyn, the director of the Cornell University Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor & Employment Relations, notes that hotels consider reducing services like daily room cleaning as a long-term budget and staffing strategy. This presents a challenge for unions like UNITE HERE in their fight for fair working conditions and compensation for hotel workers. The struggle continues as workers demand higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions in an industry that relies heavily on the labor of women, people of color, and immigrants.
