Strike Ends: Hotel Workers Reach Settlement With Westin Book Cadillac
Aleanna Siacon
Detroit Free Press
5:24 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2018
Striking workers enter day 27 marching in front of The Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown Detroit. They are asking for a fairer wage. Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press
After weeks of striking with picket signs outside downtown Detroit's Westin Book Cadillac, union workers on Saturday reached a settlement with hotel operator Marriott International.
A contract was ratified with "historic progress on crucial issues" such as wages, healthcare, benefits and working conditions, according to a statement from Unite Here AFL-CIO Local 24, the union representing the hotel workers.
“We stood strong in solidarity, and meant it when we said one job should be enough for hotel workers in the city of Detroit,” union President Nia Winston said in an e-mailed statement.
The Westin Book Cadillac strike began on Oct. 7, when hotel workers walked off their jobs and began pounding the pavement outside the doors of the 418-room Book Cadillac on 1114 Washington Blvd.
About 90 percent of the hotel's 160 unionized workers joined the strike, according to the union. That includes staff at the hotel's Starbucks. However, the hotel's restaurants Michael Symon's Roast and 24 Grill are separate businesses and not involved in the labor dispute.
Union officials told the Free Press on Friday that while the hotel has stayed open with the help of managers, replacement workers and those who did not join the strike, several groups have canceled banquets and/or hotel rooms since the strike began — including artist Elton John, who changed his hotel plans during his farewell tour's stop in Detroit. The Book Cadillac's nightly occupancy rate, normally about 90 percent, had collapsed to between 30 and 40 percent, union members said.
Specifically, the workers were seeking the same pay rates as workers at Marriott's hotel in the Renaissance Center. The Book Cadillac is more profitable than the Renaissance Center hotel, union workers said, yet they earn on average $2 to $3 less per hour for similar jobs. Marriott workers in the Renaissance Center hotel also contribute less of their paychecks for employer-sponsored health care.
Unite Here AFL-CIO Local 24 is planning to share the "full details" of the new contracts after Marriott-operated hotel workers who have gone on strike in six other cities reach agreements, according to the statement on Saturday. Those cities include Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose and two cities in Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui.
All six of the cities have either scheduled to be back in bargaining or seeking dates to return to bargaining, according to the union.
“Regardless of background, race, age, or department, workers refused to be divided, and as a result emerged victorious. We’re hopeful that similar progress can be achieved in the six cities still on strike, and the progress made by Marriott here in Detroit shows that they are able to make reasonable movement. What we’ve achieved will change workers lives and the hotel industry here in Detroit," Winston said in the statement.
The Book Cadillac hotel first opened in 1924 and closed in the mid-1980s, eventually deteriorating to a near-ruin. It reopened in 2008 following an extensive $180-million redevelopment that involved multiple layers of complex funding.
Contact reporter Aleanna Siacon at ASiacon@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AleannaSiacon. Staff writer JC Reindl contributed.
Detroit Free Press
5:24 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2018
Striking workers enter day 27 marching in front of The Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown Detroit. They are asking for a fairer wage. Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press
After weeks of striking with picket signs outside downtown Detroit's Westin Book Cadillac, union workers on Saturday reached a settlement with hotel operator Marriott International.
A contract was ratified with "historic progress on crucial issues" such as wages, healthcare, benefits and working conditions, according to a statement from Unite Here AFL-CIO Local 24, the union representing the hotel workers.
“We stood strong in solidarity, and meant it when we said one job should be enough for hotel workers in the city of Detroit,” union President Nia Winston said in an e-mailed statement.
The Westin Book Cadillac strike began on Oct. 7, when hotel workers walked off their jobs and began pounding the pavement outside the doors of the 418-room Book Cadillac on 1114 Washington Blvd.
About 90 percent of the hotel's 160 unionized workers joined the strike, according to the union. That includes staff at the hotel's Starbucks. However, the hotel's restaurants Michael Symon's Roast and 24 Grill are separate businesses and not involved in the labor dispute.
Union officials told the Free Press on Friday that while the hotel has stayed open with the help of managers, replacement workers and those who did not join the strike, several groups have canceled banquets and/or hotel rooms since the strike began — including artist Elton John, who changed his hotel plans during his farewell tour's stop in Detroit. The Book Cadillac's nightly occupancy rate, normally about 90 percent, had collapsed to between 30 and 40 percent, union members said.
Specifically, the workers were seeking the same pay rates as workers at Marriott's hotel in the Renaissance Center. The Book Cadillac is more profitable than the Renaissance Center hotel, union workers said, yet they earn on average $2 to $3 less per hour for similar jobs. Marriott workers in the Renaissance Center hotel also contribute less of their paychecks for employer-sponsored health care.
Unite Here AFL-CIO Local 24 is planning to share the "full details" of the new contracts after Marriott-operated hotel workers who have gone on strike in six other cities reach agreements, according to the statement on Saturday. Those cities include Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose and two cities in Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui.
All six of the cities have either scheduled to be back in bargaining or seeking dates to return to bargaining, according to the union.
“Regardless of background, race, age, or department, workers refused to be divided, and as a result emerged victorious. We’re hopeful that similar progress can be achieved in the six cities still on strike, and the progress made by Marriott here in Detroit shows that they are able to make reasonable movement. What we’ve achieved will change workers lives and the hotel industry here in Detroit," Winston said in the statement.
The Book Cadillac hotel first opened in 1924 and closed in the mid-1980s, eventually deteriorating to a near-ruin. It reopened in 2008 following an extensive $180-million redevelopment that involved multiple layers of complex funding.
Contact reporter Aleanna Siacon at ASiacon@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AleannaSiacon. Staff writer JC Reindl contributed.
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