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San Francisco hotel workers embroiled in contentious contract negotiations began a three-day strike today at the fourth city hotel since November.
About 850 room cleaners, cooks, dishwashers, food servers, doormen and bellhops at the Hilton hotel at 333 O’Farrell St. struck at 4 a.m. this morning, and will remain off the job until Saturday, Unite Here Local 2 spokeswoman Riddhi Mehta said.
At issue are proposed changes to workers’ health care coverage, Mehta said.
Workers have been without new contracts since last August.
Sam Singer, a spokesman for the Hotel Council of San Francisco, said in a prepared statement today that “San Francisco hotels value their employees” and are simply trying to address a rise in employee healthcare costs.
Mehta said hotel workers can’t afford to pay what the hotels are currently offering.
“Until they put a more reasonable offer on the table, we’re going to continue having strikes,” she said.
The union in November launched three-day strikes at the Palace Hotel, the Grand Hyatt and the Westin St. Francis. More than 2,100 hotel workers total have participated in the four strikes.
The union has also called for customers to boycott all four hotels, as well as the W Hotel.
