The Militant - July 17, 2000 -- Minnesota hotel strikers: 'We became stronger'

Vol.64/No.28 July 17, 2000

Minnesota hotel strikers: 'We became stronger'

BY ROBERTA BLACK
ST. PAUL, Minnesota--Striking members of Local 17 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union in the Twin Cities voted to accept a contract proposal July 28. The workers involved in the strike are employed at seven hotels--the Radisson South, Thunderbird, Hilton, Regal, Marquette, Holiday Inn, and Crowne Plaza.Workers from the Sheraton and Best Western hotels are part of the same bargaining unit but did not walk off the job.

Workers who took part in the strike felt a sense of victory and greater confidence as they went up against big corporations. Kathy Kendle, a housekeeper at the Hilton, stated, "I have become a stronger person because I fought against the hotel for demands we all deserve."

The new contract includes a 20 to 26 percent pay increase over the next five years. The 26 percent pay hike is primarily for the lowest-paid workers, such as banquet servers and housekeeping, while the 20 percent increase is for the bartenders and other workers.

Workers also will receive a 75-cent-an-hour increase over five years in employer contributions to their medical insurance fund. In addition, the contract establishes a fund to provide medical benefits to members of the families of the hotel workers. Before the strike only the hotel workers themselves received any medical benefits.

The new contract covers 1,450 workers. Union officials reported that a big majority of the workers voted for the contract, but did not give figures. Some workers thought that if they had stayed out longer, the strikers could have won more.

Most of the hotel owners stated that they were not affected by the strike. Many workers explained, however, that the hotels were deeply hurt by the strike.

Jerome House, a banquet server at the Hilton, said, " The city was forcing the hotels to come up with an agreement. They needed us back desperately, because the work was not being done right." House was referring to the fact that capitalist politicians in the Twin Cities put pressure on the hotels and the strikers to come to an agreement because of its effect on business in the area.

A worker at the Thunderbird Hotel told the Militant that he knew from his wife, a manager there, that many of the rooms were dirty and customers were complaining. Several hotels hit by the strike had ceased to offer room service or maintain their restaurant service.

Esther Howard, a worker at the Hilton Hotel, expressed her opinions of the strike and the new contract. "We have to stick together, the workers with the union. The company lost the good service we gave them and now they want us back. I want to go back to work--now that we are going to be receiving from the company the things we fought for."

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