The overview
In a Sept. 17 letter to Houston City Council, Hilton Americas-Houston workers and Unite Here Local 23, the union group representing the workers, called on City Council to conduct a “full audit” of Houston First, the city’s local government corporation responsible for tourism and conventions, and which also owns the hotel. The union also demanded that the corporation’s board meetings be available to watch online and be recorded for the public to view later.
“Public dollars built the Hilton and the convention center,” said Willy Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer and primary negotiator of Unite Here Local 23. “But members of the public have been unable to obtain information that could shed light on these facilities’ business prospects and their financial obligations to concessionaires and operators like Hilton Worldwide.”
After the letter was sent out, union members attended the Houston First Sept. 18 board meeting, where they outlined their demands for higher wages and for full transparency in front of the board members.
According to the letter, the union submitted multiple public records requests for information from Houston First, such as Houston First’s agreement with Hilton Worldwide to operate the hotel, financial performance information from the last 10 years and all events scheduled for the hotel for the next year, but they were all either denied or information was redacted.
Houston First Chair Jay Zeidman said in a Sept. 22 statement that the corporation regularly conducts audits and ensures compliance with practices under municipal and state codes.
“As a local government corporation, Houston First is subject to significant oversight, including an annual financial audit and regular audits of procurement practices,” Zeidman said. “In fact, our board of directors, which includes two Houston City Council members who serve in an ex officio capacity, approved the financial audit of our 2024 fiscal year Sept. 18.”
Community Impact reached out to the mayor’s office for comment on the union’s demands for an audit on the corporation, but didn’t hear back by press time.
The background
For years, hotel staff have earned around $16.50 an hour. The staff is demanding that the hotel increase their pay to $23 an hour, as well as a balanced work schedule and workloads.
“I’ve been with this company for over 21 years,” said Lashay Hampton, a laundry attendant at the hotel. “It’s a constant struggle to cover the cost of my utilities and pay for food, all while I’m paying off medical bills. My husband recently had two strokes, so I work to provide for both of us, and it’s been hard. I’m on strike fighting for a living wage so that I don’t have to worry about whether I can afford for my husband to be taken care of, or if we can afford to pay his medical bills, or if we can even keep the lights on.”
According to previous Community Impact reporting, some proposals the union has received from Hilton included raising the hourly wage to $17.50, followed by a 75-cent increase in January and 50-cent raises every six months.
What’s next?
The union announced in a Sept. 19 news release that the strike will continue until Oct. 12 at midnight The hotel staff’s contracts expired June 30, according to the news release.
“This strike is becoming a defining moment for the city of Houston and whether or not it will be a city that working people can survive in,” Gonzalez said in the news release. “The workers at the Hilton Americas may be the first hospitality workers to go on strike in Houston, but they will not be the last as long as corporate owners ignore the needs of the staff that run their businesses. We call on Hilton and Houston First to get serious and end this strike with a deal that workers can live with.”
