Unionized hotel workers at Sheraton Downtown Philadelphia went on strike and walked off the job Sunday morning after the union and management failed to come to an agreement.
Read more Vance meets top Iranian officials as U.S. looks to get negotiations back on track
The union, Unite Here Local 274, is bargaining for a $30 per hour minimum wage to be established by 2028, as well as improved benefits, including healthcare coverage for workers’ family members.
The strike comes just one day before France and Iraq compete in a FIFA World Cup soccer match at Lincoln Financial Field (a.k.a. “Philadelphia Stadium” for soccer fans) and a few days before another match between Curacao and Ivory Coast. Previous World Cup matches have flooded the city with tourists from around the world.
“These hotel rooms are selling, and they’re charging exorbitant rates,” said Unite Here Local 274 Vice President Briheem Douglas.
The prospect of a busy summer tourist season provided the union with leverage to get hotel owners to agree to contracts at five other unionized hotels in the city, Douglas said.
“Workers have bargained in good faith with this company way before the World Cup started,” Douglas said. “Other hotels have gotten there, and this place hasn’t.”
Eight unionized hotels in Center City had been without a contract since 2024, Douglas noted. However, within the past year, workers have successfully bargained contracts, locking in the $30 hourly wage and improved benefits, at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District, Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel, and Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center.
Douglas noted that the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown is the biggest unionized hotel in the city, with about 200 Unite Here employees.
“For our workers to not be at the standard is disrespectful,” Douglas said.
Douglas said workers face added pressure to secure healthcare after the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” reduced access to Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits.
Read more When in New Jersey for the World Cup, do as the locals do. (Go to a mall.)
Francine Eason, a unionized housekeeper at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, said nearly every union employee at the hotel has children.
Eason has an adult daughter, a grandchild, and a teenaged niece in her household in Wilmington, Del. But swelling gasoline prices and spiking grocery bills have eaten away at the buying power of her $22 per hour wage over the past year.
“Everybody is on hard times,” Eason said. With gas prices backing off, she said this weekend was the first time in a while she’d been able to fill the gas tank on her 2017 Kia Optima — she’d been in the habit of only filling it halfway, in case she needed money for food.
“Oh, my gosh, it was lovely,” Eason said, and recalled musing, “This is a full tank.”
The union also is seeking a reduction in the number of rooms housekeeping staff are required to prepare per shift for guests, from 16 to 15.
The hotel is owned by Miami-based CL Hotels and is run by Aimbridge Hospitality.
In a statement, the Sheraton’s management said: “We respect our team members’ rights to engage in legally protected activities and look forward to reaching a fair contract. While discussions are ongoing, we remain committed to ensuring our guests enjoy their stay.”
In addition to this summer’s surge of World Cup fans and tourists, Sheraton’s regular business includes flight attendants, said Keturah Johnson, the International Vice President for the Association of Flight Attendants, a union.
Johnson was participated in the strike as a show of solidarity with the hotel workers. She said the flight attendants’ union made the decision to have flight attendants stay elsewhere in the city during the strike as a show of support.
Read more Trump, Claiming Vandalism, Says Reflecting Pool Will Be Drained
“We don’t cross picket lines,” Johnson said. “We join them.”