Workers at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel have been on strike since Labor Day weekend. On Tuesday, the entire San Diego City Council said, through a resolution, that they are squarely behind the workers in their strike for higher wages. Their union, Unite Here Local 30, is also calling on hotel management to return staffing levels to those before the pandemic.
After the council's vote, a group of hotel workers were joined by San Diego City councilmembers Sean Elo-Rivera, Marni Von Wilpert, Joe LaCava and Kent Lee for a news conference in the plaza of San Diego City Hall.
Rosa Carrillo, who works in housekeeping at the hotel, said it's not fair that she and her fellow workers often have to work more than one job to be able to afford to live in San Diego. Her remarks were made in Spanish and translated by Unite Here President Brigette Browning.
“We would like to have just one job, not two. Because if you have two jobs, you’re not able to spend time with your children," Carrillo said.
Browning told KPBS that Hilton management is now working against their own self-interest.
“I would say like, make a business decision. We have cost you more in lost business than the contract would cost. I mean, at some point you have to just put your ego aside and do right by the workers," she said.
Browning said the last time the union was at the negotiating table with Hilton was last week. At that time, she said the offer from Hilton was a $5.50 raise to be paid out over the next four years.
Browning said that would put the lowest-paid workers at $29.50 an hour in 2028. She said that's just not enough to be able to live in San Diego.
Browning said Hilton management last week said they would be coming back to the table, but she said she hasn't heard anything from them since.
While there are several Hilton hotels in the San Diego area, only the Hilton Bayfront is currently the target of a strike. Browning said that's because the union's contract with that property was the first one to expire. She said contracts at other Hiltons, and other hotels in the region, will expire toward the end of the year.
KPBS reached out to Hilton for a comment, but we never heard back.
