NoVA Hotel Workers Launch Boycott

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Over 150 workers from five hotels across Northern Virginia rallied with supporters outside the Hilton Crystal City Wednesday afternoon to launch a worker-approved boycott against unionbusting hotel management company Columbia Sussex. Protesters roared “Don’t check in, check out” until their voices went hoarse and pounded make-shift bucket drums with signs saying “Boycott Hilton Crystal City” while rush-hour traffic crawled past. Columbia Sussex purchased the Hilton Crystal City – Northern Virginia’s first union hotel – last year and immediately demanded increases in workloads, elimination of pensions and other benefits, and cuts in health insurance coverage. Workers – members of UNITE HERE Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board – have been without a contract since last October but have refused to give into management’s demands and voted in April to approve the boycott. “We have to keep fighting for everything we have already won, and this boycott is the best way to do it,” says Regino Romero, who has worked 14 years as a cook at the hotel. “We need to pressure them to win a good contract, with good raises and health insurance,” says housekeeper Ernestina Lopez. Wednesday’s rally precedes a rally for Sheraton Baltimore City Center workers next Thursday at 4:30P. Workers at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center hotel – also owned by Columbia Sussex – called for a similar boycott – still active – of their hotel last October after working without a contract for over a year.
- report/photos by Andy Richards