Councilmember/former Mayor Jake Simpson made a motion to suspend the rules at Tuesday night’s (Oct. 22, 2024) SeaTac City Council Meeting to allow hotel workers currently on strike to speak to the council and to pass a proclamation declaring Oct. 25  as “Hotel Workers Day,” honoring the role hotel workers play in the SeaTac Community.

400 workers from Doubletree Seattle Airport and Seattle Airport Hilton & Conference Center in SeaTac walked off the job on Saturday, Oct. 12, striking for better wages and more staffing.

The striking hotel workers of SeaTac join a larger movement nationwide, including 4,375 hotel workers currently on strike at Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels in Boston, Honolulu, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The hotel workers maintain that business is booming at the hotels, yet cuts in staffing made during the pandemic remain in place, increasing the workload for those on staff.

One striking hotel worker told the council:

“The economy for the hotel industry is back. I work front line. I deal with every part of the hotel. We are at 100%. Everything is at 100%. But our staffing is not. It’s been six years without a new [Union] contract. We’ve been living off the same contract for the last six years.”

The worker’s previous contract expired in May, and months of unsuccessful negotiations followed, ultimately resulting in the strike.

A housekeeper who has worked at Doubletree for 18 years expressed the financial stress workers are under:

“We work from paycheck to paycheck. It’s not enough to make sure we are able to pay our bills, our rent. Just last paycheck […] it didn’t come close to paying hardly any of my bills. I could pay one bill out of it. And now I’m struggling to make sure to get what I need to get.”

“I deserve to be paid,” another striking worker told the council. “The hotel’s making money. I would stand with them if they were not. They should stand with us now that they are.”

Here’s the full text of the resolution:

Whereas, SeaTac’s hotel industry is a crucial economic driver for the SeaTac community; and

Whereas, the hotel industry cannot be successful without a thriving workforce; and

Whereas. SeaTac’s hotel workforce reflects the community in its diversity; a majority of hotel workers are refugees, immigrants and from BIPOC communities; and

Whereas, inflation and the rise in the cost of living has disproportionately impacted hotel workers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck; and

Whereas, hotel occupancy and revenues have recovered from the pandemic, but staffing cuts have been made permanent; and

Whereas, hotel workers in the city of SeaTac have been on strike for a total of 9 days this fall.

Now, therefore, I, Mohammed Egal, Mayor of the City of SeaTac, WA, on behalf of the City Council, proclaim that Friday, October 25, 2024 is Hotel Worker Day honoring the important role of hotel workers in our community and supporting hotel workers in their struggle for better working and living conditions.

Photo courtesy City of SeaTac.