Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:02:06] She’s one of the striking workers from the Hilton Union Square who volunteered to prepare meals every day and cook breakfast and lunch under this tent and serve it to workers.
Evelyn Luarca [00:02:19] Mi puesto de trabajo aquí en el Hilton es de mesera de banquetes.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:02:24] She started working at the Hilton Union Square almost 30 years ago, which is something crazy that many of the workers I’ve spoken to at these picket lines have been working for these hotels for decades often. And so Evelyn started as a dishwasher and then she moved up to her job now, which is a banquet server. And she said she decided to stay in this industry because of the benefits.
Evelyn Luarca [00:02:50] Lo importante sería el seguro médico, que es lo que más cuesta para para nosotros.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:02:55] And so now she’s really afraid that those things are at risk. And so she feels like she needs to be striking to keep the benefits that they have and try to get wage increases that keep up with the cost of living.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:03:12] How long have they been on strike now?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:03:14] This particular strike in San Francisco began September 22nd. So it’s been more than two months now. Currently, it’s about 2500 housekeepers, bartenders, servers, dishwashers and others at six hotels downtown. And it’s an indefinite strike, meaning that the workers said they would be willing to be the picket line for as long as it takes to get a contract that they feel they can accept.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:03:51] What exactly are they asking for here in San Francisco?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:03:55] Their top priority is keeping their health care benefit costs down. Another big priority is wage increases. And then they also want to ensure they keep their pensions. So their wages really vary depending on the jobs that they have. The union has not responded to questions of what exactly, you know, the increase is. If we’re talking about a 20% or a 10% or a 5% increase the first year. You know, just to note, this is happening as thousands of hotel workers in other cities in the country also went on strike, sometimes in short, definite strikes. You know, so they announced they’re going to go out, walk off the job for two, three days and then go back. You know, that kind of thing. There were a couple of longer strikes for sure, including in Honolulu. But those workers have in Honolulu, San Diego, Boston and other cities have been able to achieve labor contracts with the very same things that workers in San Francisco say they want, you know, wage increases and keeping their health care. But in San Francisco, we’re seeing that conflict continue. And the experts and, you know, people we talked to who follow the hotel industry and tourism industry in the city say something that’s complicating things here is the very slow tourism recovery of the city.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:05:15] Yeah, let’s get into that a little bit. What challenges has San Francisco faced specifically to its tourism industry that is making it so hard for these hotel workers to get what they want?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:05:28] So we’ve seen a huge drop in the number of visitors since the pandemic that has continued even as other cities and the U.S. have almost fully rebounded. San Francisco’s tourism is heavily dependent on convention businesses, and so we now know that for next year, it seems like that number of conventions coming to Moscone Center, coming to the very large hotels, it’s increasing, but it’s still at lower levels than in 2019. A very good indicator is how much the city collected in hotel tax revenue in 2019. It was $414 million that fiscal year. This last fiscal year, 2023, 2024, it was 283 million. So there’s a significant difference there. People inside the industry say it’s a really difficult time for hotels in San Francisco and it’s a difficult time for the owners of the hotel to agree to increase labor costs.
David Sherwyn [00:06:38] It’s in all the papers that San Francisco is having problems.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:06:42] David Sherwyn directs the Center for Innovative Hospitality, Labor and Employment Relations at Cornell University.
David Sherwyn [00:06:50] A lot of the northern cities have recovered and San Francisco just hasn’t.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:06:54] He basically said that in San Francisco. You know, the proposition from workers is that, you know, like we said, it’s something that hotel workers in other cities have been able to to accomplish in their in their contract with employers. But in San Francisco, that’s that’s a lot more difficult to achieve because of the the financial picture for the for those businesses in the city.
David Sherwyn [00:07:22] Just because the recovery hasn’t hit San Francisco doesn’t mean that inflation didn’t hit San Francisco. So the humans who you know, who work at the hotels and live in the Bay Area, they’ve seen their expenses go up, but they work for businesses that haven’t seen their revenues go up and in fact, their revenues are way down.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:07:48] Yeah, it sounds like. So San Francisco hasn’t recovered as as well as other cities in the country. And I feel like what’s happening to the hotels is kind of a symptom of a larger problem in San Francisco. And I know the city has really been battling also these really negative perceptions around homelessness and crime. I mean, what role has that played?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:08:11] Well, definitely. You know, you speak to people in other parts of the country that are organizing conventions or deciding where where to spend their vacation. And San Francisco has definitely taken a hit to its image from, like you said, the perception of homelessness, open drug use and streets, petty crime. San Francisco’s competing with many other destinations people can go to. If you speak with workers at the picket lines, they see that, too. You know, because they don’t get work unless the hotels have these big gatherings of economists or scientists or lawyers, you know, they recognize it’s a huge problem. They see it on their day to day, you know, when they go to work. And then they want the city to do more to to tackle those issues so that tourism can come back.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:02] I mean, how exactly have these employers responded so far to union demands?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:09:09] Hilton Hyatt and Marriott have not agreed to any interviews with KQED, and they’ve sent in no written statements. They’ve said that they’re, you know, striving for a fair contract, that they’re open to negotiating, that their priority is taking care of their guests and try to minimize the disruptions. The chief negotiator for Hyatt has said that the company, you know, has a long history of providing very competitive wages, health care benefits, pensions, and that, you know, they’re trying their best to to get to a point where they can agree to a contract.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:48] And then on the other hand, what do union leaders say?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:09:52] We spoke with Anand Singh who is the lead negotiator for Unite here, Local two, which is the union that represents these hotel workers in San Francisco.
Anand Singh [00:10:01] Let’s recognize this for what it is. This is nothing more than a cash grab.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:10:06] And he believes that the companies are kind of using that doom loop narrative in San Francisco.
Anand Singh [00:10:13] They see this as an opportunity. They want to permanently reduce the cost of labor in the city. And I think they’re they’ve made a couple of major miscalculations here.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:10:24] You know, he wants the workers want to be part of the solution in San Francisco. They want the companies to invest in San Francisco so that it helps to bring more visitors to the city.
Anand Singh [00:10:36] I think that, you know, we’re not it’s absolutely true that the longer the strike goes, it does threaten the recovery. That’s not on our members. That’s on this industry.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:10:48] He believes tourism is recovering, which, you know, it’s true. And mostly, although it may take many more years. And what Anand said is that the union has made concessions, you know, and their proposals where they’ve proposed to get very modest wage increases in exchange for a share of profits if the hotels become more profitable in the future. But that that was rejected by the companies.
Anand Singh [00:11:21] So these companies have the resources. They have the wherewithal to deliver on a fair contract. This is really about their attempt to roll back the standard for working people in the city and permanently reduce their labor costs.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:11:50] I mean, I want to talk about the larger impact here Farida, I mean, coming back first to the workers. I mean, it’s been months.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:11:57] Yeah.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:11:58] They’re not getting paid on those picket lines. Right?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:12:02] It’s so difficult to sustain a strike like that, an indefinite strike, you know where the picket line is, 24 /7. I’ve been there a couple of days and I’m like, wow, it’s cold, it’s windy. You know, it’s like San Francisco weather. It may be raining. And like you said, they’re not getting their paycheck. That’s the biggest challenge for workers to sustain a strike because of all of the financial challenges. And we’re talking about workers who are already they’re not making a lot of money. Often the union in this case Unite Here is offering a stipend. They call it a strike stipend, but it’s just a fraction of what they would normally make at their jobs. So if you talk to anybody there, they’ll likely be like, you know, I’d rather be working in the hotel and doing my job. But they feel like at this point, they just can’t they can’t give in, you know. And so they both both parties have kind of dug in their heels. And so it looks like at this point, it’s just a waiting game kind of.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:13:06] What impact have the strikes had on the hotels themselves, like visitors and cancellations? Has that been a thing as a result of the strikes?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:13:15] The hotel brands like we mentioned, they won’t directly comment on the impact to these hotels, but you can see it. Stand in any of these picket lines and guests have to like weave through or go on the side, you know, And then as soon as you come inside the hotel lobby, it’ll be like a little more quiet. But they see it as they go in and out of the hotels. I spoke to a couple of them at the Hilton and also at the Westin, which is another hotel right across from Union Square that’s on strike. And they said that they didn’t know that the strikes were happening before they landed at the hotels. So it was definitely a surprise. And then in terms of like business that we can track. The union has asked visitors to not eat, sleep or meet at any of the six hotels where the strikes are happening or at other hotels where workers have voted to authorize a strike because that’s something else that’s important as this strike could grow. And there’s an additional 1600 workers at more hotels in the city that the union says could join the strike at any time.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:14:31] The strike has also affected convention and business travel, which is a huge source of money for hotels and the city. Lufthansa Airlines and the Association of American Law Schools have pulled their business from the Hilton in Union Square. The union has also asked attendees of the JP Morgan Healthcare conference not to come in January. Industry experts for Reader talked to say that the longer this labor conflict continues, the greater the risk that it could undermine San Francisco’s economic recovery.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:15:11] Farida, what impact have these strikes had on the city more broadly, I mean, you mentioned earlier that these hotels contribute a lot in taxes.
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:15:20] We know that the city of San Francisco is facing a really big budget deficit in the next two years of more than $800 million. And definitely lower hotel tax revenues are a contributor to that. Add to that deficit that is going to impact everyone in the city. We have a new mayor, Daniel Lurie, starting his term in San Francisco in January. And that will definitely be a priority for him and his administration. We asked, you know, have they had any comment about the strike? A spokesperson for Lurie said that they’ve been in touch with the union about what’s going on, but they didn’t want to comment at this time because it’s definitely a hot potato.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:16:09] I mean, what is it going to take then to end this?
Farida Jhabvala Romero [00:16:13] Good question. You know, the labor economists and people who follow strikes that I talked to said that, you know, at this point it’s sort of like a chicken game to see who’s going to who’s going to budge. The union is hoping that the mounting economic losses for the hotels will lead the companies to agree to a deal. But then on the other hand, it could be that, you know, the companies are also just waiting for the workers to not be able to afford to be on strike anymore. I mean, that said, strikes can last for a really long time in L.A.. Last year, there were dozens of hotels where workers were on strikes. Those walkouts were not indefinite like this one. They call them rolling strikes, which is a different strategy where workers go out for a couple of days and then come back and then more workers go out and strike. Those ones went on for months and months, you know, and then but at the end, the workers got a deal that the union said was was really good for them.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:17:20] So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
