In the middle of difficult contract negotiations, housekeepers at the Heritage Inn say they have been forced into a strike by their employer.

President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1400 Lucy Figueiredo says prolonged contract negotiations have been underway since 2019. When bargaining resumed after the Covid-19 pandemic, the employer proposed a list of significant changes such as loss of benefits that had already been agreed upon. These include a loss of dental, vision, and health benefits, scheduling by seniority, housekeeping workload limits, and consecutive days of rest.

On Tuesday, she says the employer sent a letter to workers stating that they would be locked out of working unless they accept the current proposed deal. Figueiredo says managers inside the hotel have urged employees to sign a document stating that if they come out on the picket line, they are going to lose their jobs when they go back.

These employees have not received a wage increase since 2018, amid the increasing cost of living and inflation, and they were making $13 before they were locked out of working.
Figueiredo calls on the employer to get back to the bargaining table, as she believes it is cruel and irresponsible to force workers into a strike they didn’t vote for.