Braving the icy cold rain, 160 of the Westin Book Cadillac’s workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 24, walked off their jobs Sunday morning and began pounding the slick pavement outside the doors of the grand Marriott-operated hotel with picket signs around 5 a.m. 

“Detroit is a union town!”

“What’s disgusting? Union busting!” 

Doormen, cooks, servers, stewards, housekeepers, and more chanted outside the hotel asking that wage and insurance plan changes happen so that one full-time job is enough for them to provide for their families. 

Yolanda Murray, 43, a lead steward whose been at the hotel for eight years said she’s protesting because she’s a single mother with two kids, and she can’t afford to live in the city of Detroit. 

In addition to her commute, Murray said she worries about paying for her home, and the health insurance plan provided to workers doesn’t work for families. 

“My health insurance is $50 a week that comes out of my check, so I can’t even afford to put both my kids on the health insurance.”

Murray said the workers will keep up a 24-hour picket line, and plan to continue “tomorrow, and the next day.” 

“The economic proposal that they gave us was really a joke, so that’s why me and my fellow co-workers is out here right now making a difference and making a change,” she said. 

According to a news release, the worker’s union contracts expired on June 30, but they were unsatisfied with Marriott’s offer.

“Marriott’s most recent economic offer would take half a decade to bring Westin Book workers up to the current pay standards of other Detroit hotel workers,” the release said. 

Local 24 President Nia Winston said workers have been in negotiations with the hotel for months, demanding fair wages and contract changes. 

It’s especially troubling that the Westin Book Cadillac workers make about $2 less on average than workers at Marriott hotel in the Renaissance Center about six blocks away, Winston said.

Contracts for workers employed by the Marriott at the Renaissance Center are reportedly not up and they didn’t participate in the strike on Sunday.

“What’s happened since this particular hotel has been open in 2008, it opened in a recession, so when it opened the workers didn’t receive any wage increases for two years and then very little since then,” Winston said. 

According to the Detroit Historical Society, the hotel was built in 1924, but shuttered in 1984 due to a rough economic climate. The hotel then underwent a restoration that cost almost $200 million and officially-reopened in 2008.  

The Westin Book Cadillac has since become the “most profitable hotel” in Detroit, but most of its workers need two or three jobs to survive, Winston said. 

“One job simply should be enough, but it’s not,” she said. “Unfortunately, through this process, it feels like it’s fallen on deaf ears to the employer.”

Winston also explained that many of the hotel worker’s can’t afford to live in the city, must pay for parking, and don’t make enough money to put their children in their healthcare. 

“And there were concerns about as technology comes and it replaces workers,” she said. “We want to have an opportunity to be a partner with the employer, to sit down and talk about that. We know that we cannot stop technology from happening, but what we can figure out is how it impacts our workers and how we (can) work jointly together.”

Winston said some of the workers protesting have stayed with the hotel since 2008 and played a key role in the hotel’s growth. 

“The city was not doing well, the occupancy level here was very low. They stood by their side. They continued to give 100 percent guest service, which is the reason why the guests come back day after day, month after month, year after year, and it’s a shame that 10 years later, when they’ve done extremely well and paid off all the debtors that they can’t pay back the workers,” she said. 

Marriott officially took over the Westin Book Cadillac after it completed the acquisition of previous owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. in 2006. 

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The hotel has since cultivated a reputation around the city for catering to elite clientele and hosting lavish weddings.

In fact, three different weddings were scheduled at the hotel today, Rachel Gumpert, the national spokeswoman for UNITE HERE. 

Weddings are among events that are “nearly impossible” to orchestrate without the efforts of the hotel’s workers, she added. 

Nonetheless, despite attempts at negotiations with workers at other Marriott-operated hotels around the country, Gumpert said the corporation has been “unwilling to move on economics and job security.”

“We are going to be out here until we win,” Gumpert said. 

Sunday’s demonstration in Detroit marked a national campaign conducted by more than 5,000 workers that have gone on strike in now-six cities, all calling on Marriott to act. 

In addition to Detroit, Gumpert said hotel workers strikes have began in Boston, as well as several California cities: San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. 

However, Gumpert said today marks the first Michigan hotel worker strike in 30 years. 

“We are disappointed that Unite Here has chosen to resort to a strike at this time” a Westin Book Cadillac spokesman said. “During the strike our hotel is open, and we stand ready to provide excellent service to our guests.  We continue to bargain in good faith for a fair contract. While we respect our associates’ rights to participate in this work stoppage, we also will welcome any associate who chooses to continue to work.”

Contact reporter Aleanna Siacon at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @AleannaSiacon.

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