Living Through Corona: A Hotel Worker Fears Losing Her Job For Good

Eight months into this pandemic, the future of Boston's hospitality industry is still uncertain. That uncertainty is weighing heavily on people like Marta McClung.

McClung, who worked in housekeeping at the Omni Parker House, fears her job could be gone for good. As part of our series "Living Through Corona," we talk with McClung about living with that fear and what comes next for hotel works like her.

On the importance of unemployment benefits during the pandemic:

Marta McClung: "For now, I worry for my future, because soon the unemployment is done — it's finished for a lot of people — for me and for my family. It affects how I pay my bills, you know, pay the mortgage ... After December, I don't know."

On initial thoughts of being laid off from her job in hospitality:

Marta McClung: "I thought it was coming back, you know, soon, because the hotels are closed, but with the hotel now open, there's no business. Never, no...[I didn't expect it to be seven or eight months of unemployment]. I think not only for me, but for a lot of people.

"I don't think my job is coming back ... you know, maybe [they'll] call us in two years or when their business goes up. But for now, I don't think so."

On what's next for her and her family:

Marta McClung: "I talk to my daughters because this is a real life. Sometimes, when I am sleeping ... I'm thinking, 'How pay this? How do I pay the mortgage, how do I buy food?' Because everything is expensive now. But after December, honestly, I don't know.

"I applied for local food stamps because this is what I needed for my daughters. But this is temporary too, you know?"

On if she will continue working in the hotel business: 

Marta McClung: "I applied [for other jobs]. But now maybe for my age, you know, it's very difficult to find another job..."

"The scary thing [about] this situation of the pandemic - the company, maybe, [does] the same thing: fire us and hire more people. [It's] no different, no benefits."

Tiziana Dearing: "So you're both worried that the hotels will put new temporary workers in who are less expensive, essentially to pay, and that when unemployment runs out next month, you don't know what you're going to do. So to that point, Marta, Local 26 has been pushing for a bill at the state level. That would mean that laid off hotel workers could be hired back. If the job is brought back, it would give priority. Are you hopeful that that can get passed?"

Marta McClung: "Yeah. I'll try [to work in the hotel industry again], yeah. I like [the] hotel, you know? I work in a hotel because this is my experience, but if you have other opportunities, you can [work] a different job."