Democrats move Labor Day breakfast outdoors 'in solidarity' with hotel workers' strike

On Monday, Massachusetts Democrats moved an annual Labor Day breakfast out of its usual setting inside the Hilton Park Plaza Hotel and to the outdoors in a show of solidarity with hundreds of striking hotel workers in Boston.

“Hotel executives are making unprecedented millions while workers right here in Boston struggle with the basics,” Greater Boston Labor Council President Darlene Lombos said in a statement Sunday. “We are changing plans and doing things differently this year. We are going to bring attention to the changes that are needed in the hotel industry, and frankly, so many other industries, where workers continue to be paid far too little as executive compensation goes up and up.”

The council represents more than 100,000 workers and hosts the breakfast each year. Held for decades at the Park Plaza Hotel, organizers said in the statement the event tries to draw attention to "key worker struggles of the moment" and spur "elected officials to break bread with the union workers who drive the Greater Boston economy."

Roughly 900 hotel workers entered the planned three-day strike Sunday morning, including those at the Hilton Park Plaza hotel.

UNITE HERE Local 26 said Sunday workers at Hilton Logan Airport, Hilton-Hampton Inn Boston Seaport, and Fairmont Copley Plaza also were on strike to protest staffing and service cuts and unsuccessful efforts to gain higher wages in contract talks. The workers included room attendants, front desk agents, doormen, cooks, dishwashers and banquet servers.

Out on the picket line was Susie Coehlo, an East Boston resident who has worked at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport for 21 years. She said she’s paying college tuition for her daughter and wants a better contract and job security.

“I'm here to pave the way for future hotel workers,” she said, “and to give my daughter a better future.”

Others joining the strike expressed similar concerns about wages and workers' futures in the industry.

"I'm on strike because I’m literally tired of working in multiple departments and having an unpredictable weekly schedule just so I can make 40 hours a week," Michael Correa, a barback at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport Hotel for 17 years, said in a statement. "Going on strike is a huge sacrifice, but it’s something I have to do for myself and my two daughters."

Organizers of the breakfast said Friday they had contingency plans for the event if the strike were to begin, but declined to share specifics or explain why they chose the same venue given workers at the hotel had endured months of unsuccessful contract talks.

At about 9:15 a.m. Sunday, an organizer confirmed to the State House News Service that the breakfast would be held outdoors for the first time ever.

"We will not cross the picket line, but we will still celebrate Labor Day together," the Greater Boston Labor Council said. Breakfast attendees set to take seats along Columbus Avenue at around 9 a.m. were invited to join striking workers at a rally outside the Park Plaza hotel at 7 a.m. Monday.

Prominent politicians scheduled to attend the breakfast included U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Gov. Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Wu joined hotel workers marching in the picket line Monday morning.

"These workers also deserve a wage that is livable, the ability to take care of their own families, and we're here standing with them on that," Wu told reporters Monday.

Roughly 4,500 union workers with UNITE HERE Local 26 previously agreed to authorize strikes across 35 hotels after months of rocky contract negotiations with hotel companies. Last Wednesday, State House News Service reporters spoke with several workers at 32BJ SEIU's downtown Boston office; they were registering for strike pay and picket duty, and making picket signs.

UNITE HERE Local 26 says its members won "record contracts" in 2023 after strikes at Los Angeles hotels and Detroit casinos. As of Sunday, there were no definitive plans for strikes at the other 31 Boston hotels where workers have authorized strikes, an official said.

With reporting from WBUR's Barbara Moran, Lisa Creamer and Paul Connearney, as well as reporting from Michael P. Norton of the State House News Service