Striking Marriot workers reach preliminary agreement with hotel, says trade union
46-day strike at seven Marriott hotels in Boston is expected to end after workers cast their vote on Saturday afternoon on a preliminary agreement reached Friday night between their association and hotel chain.
Unite Here Local 26 unions refused to release the agreement, to the remaining 5,000 Marriott workers strike in San Francisco and two locations in Hawaii, settling their contracts. In total, 8,000 Marriott workers went to work this fall and agreements have been reached in four other cities ̵[ads1]1; Detroit, San Jose, Oakland and San Diego.
"This has been a very hard battle battle and it has really been driven by the determination, courage, intelligence and strength of the members here in Boston," said Brian Lang, president of Local 26. "Marriott finally listened and they went up and agreed to a contract to set a new standard for hotel workers in this city. "
In a statement to Globe early on Saturday afternoon, Marriott officials confirmed that a preliminary agreement was reached.
"We are looking forward to welcoming our employees to work," said a spokesman in an email.
The preliminary agreement addresses all the issues raised by the union over salary, work
The work stoppage was the city's first major hotel strike in modern history, involving 1,500 employees, from housekeepers to bartenders to doormen, seven o'clock hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton Boston , Sheraton Boston and Westin Copley Place. Boston workers, who went on strike October 3, were the first Marriott employees nationwide to go out.
Local 26 will use the Marriott contract as the basis for negotiations with the rest of the unionized hotels in the Boston area – there are 32 at all – some of them have already said they would agree on the same terms.
As for the workers, who will cast their voice this afternoon: "They were completely underestimated," said Lang. "They are on top of the world."
Katie Johnston can be reached at katie.johnston@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ktkjohnston . John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.
