The mayor and UNITE HERE Local 26 will demand that hotel owners don’t use the pandemic as an excuse to eliminate good jobs.
What: UNITE HERE Local 26 to partner with Mayor Kim Janey in demand for back to work plan for Boston hospitality workers
When: Thursday, July 8th at 5 PM, March begins at 5:45pm
Where: Grand Ballroom at Boston Park Plaza, 50 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116, followed by a march, beginning at the Park Plaza, past many downtown hotels ending at the Marriott Copley where there is an ongoing boycott in support of non-Union workers who were summarily fired during the pandemic.
Who: Carlos Aramayo, UNITE HERE Local 26 President, Mayor Kim Janey, the 55th Mayor of Boston, hundreds of hotel, food service, casino, and airport workers
Note: Interviews from workers, UNITE HERE Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo available by phone, and after the event over Zoom
UNITE HERE Local 26 members will join Janey to “discuss what it will take to see every hospitality job return to Boston,” according to a press release.
“The hospitality industry has been one of the hardest-hit industries through the COVID-19 pandemic. The understaffing and unique procedures conducted during the pandemic were just that, uniquely for the pandemic and temporary. We are proud to know that Mayor Kim Janey is committed to a full recovery where every hospitality employee is back on the job,” said UNITE HERE Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo, in a press release.
After events at the Boston Park Plaza take place, there will be a march past many downtown hotels to the Boston Marriott Copley. Many workers had been surviving on unemployment, since March 2020, because of the coronavirus. They also learned that their furlough was permanent. In September 2020, over 230 Marriott Copley workers were fired. Marriott Copley workers have launched a boycott against their former employer, asking for a return to work and fair severance.
Shira Laucharoen is a reporter based in Boston. She currently serves as the assistant director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. In the past she has written for Sampan newspaper, The Somerville Times, Scout Magazine, Boston Magazine, and WBUR.