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Dozens of striking hotel workers in San Francisco have been arrested after sitting in the street and blocking traffic in the city center.
The rally and march started Friday at Yerba Buena Plaza, in Market Street, between the 3rd and 4th streets. The organizers said the workers protested in response to the contract negotiations.
"They've automated things and eliminated jobs," said Marriott Marriott's Danel Burns. "Room service was one of those jobs that was one of those jobs to occupy a few years ago."
Union members said they like working for Marriott, but they need better pay and some job security.
"It's really an extremely profitable business, it's a great thing to work for them, we would really like to be counted and treated as if we had value," said Marriott Marquis employee Jessica Etheridge.
About 40 hotel union employees who demonstrated outside Marriott Marquis Street on 4th Street were arrested. The police said that they had been accused of not obeying a traffic policeman, a misdemeanor.
Several streets in the area were also closed and damaged traffic in the city's southern market district during the protest.
They are among some 8,000 workers who left their jobs at Marriotts in Boston from Honolulu. Marriott is the largest hotel operator in the world.
While the protest dragged on, both sides of the labor dispute do not seem to be backing off. However, some people living in the neighborhood are tired of the noise.
"I understand what they're trying to do, I do not know if it's the right way to go, I'm just frustrated to live here and work here," said Ashley Carrillo, a resident of SOMA.
Several hotels in San Francisco are affected. At the St. Regis Hotel, soundproofing panels were installed on the second floor windows. However, this does not help Sue and Dick Wollack who live in the hotel and have windows facing the street.
"I'm behind them with, they can not get enough money for a single job, I believe in that, but they have gone too far with all that noise," Sue said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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