Local News

Group of Seaport hotel workers vote to join union after months of uncertainty

The Banquet and Convention Services department will join UNITE HERE Local 26 after 75 percent of their department was demoted to part-time status last year.

UNITE HERE Local 26

January 23, 2024

2 minutes to read

A subset of workers at a hotel in the Seaport won a long-fought union vote last week, a conclusion to a year-long struggle after more than half of the workers lost their benefits.

The Banquets and Convention Services department, composed of about 60 workers, at the Seaport Hotel Boston voted to join UNITE HERE Local 26 six months after they filed for an election, the union said.

A year ago, the hotel demoted 75 percent of the department to part-time status, which took away insurance and income for workers.

“We were all left floundering to support ourselves and to give ourselves insurance,” server Patricia Medina-Norton told Boston.com.

74-year-old Medina-Norton, from Salem, has worked as a banquet waiter at the Seaport Hotel for almost 20 years, but when her hours were reduced, she had to pick up four other jobs.

“I’m really tired,” she told Boston.com before the union election.

In July, the employees filed with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election. The hotel argued that the subset of workers was too narrow, while the union said the Banquet and Convention Services staff should qualify as a unit.

“The issue in this case is whether the Regional Director should approve a bargaining unit that includes only two sub-departments in this integrated operation and thereby irrationally fractures the Hotel’s interdependent workforce,” the hotel’s lawyers told the NLRB. “The answer is no.”

Unlike the unionizing department, most of the other workers either work in food services at the hotel’s restaurants, are full-time staff, or their staffing relies on the ebb and flow of the hotel occupancy, the union argued in a post-hearing brief with the NLRB.

“Because the petitioned-for employees indisputably share a community of interest and constitute a readily identifiable unit for bargaining, an election should be ordered in the petitioned-for unit,” the union lawyers told the NLRB.

In November, Boston City Councillor Ed Flynn sponsored a resolution supporting the workers’ efforts to unionize. The resolution passed unanimously.

“These hotel workers in the service industry work hard to make an honest living. Many of them are our immigrant and lower income neighbors with families to support,” Flynn said in a statement. “They are an intricate and important part of supporting the economic and growth engine of Boston. As leaders of this City, we need to stand by and support them, and ensure that they can unionize when they choose to. They should be allowed to vote in a fair and free union election.”

As they waited for the NLRB to issue their decision, the workers also took to the streets and demonstrated outside Seaport Hotel Boston and Fidelity’s corporate offices.

Fidelity owns the Drew Company, who owns the hotel. In a statement a spokesperson for the hotel said that “Seaport Hotel has a long history of taking care of its people. We look forward to continuing to work together to ensure we are offering the very best experience to our guests and employees alike.”

Last month, the NLRB issued their decision to allow a vote. The union announced that a “clear majority” of the workers voted to join.

“My co-workers and I are asking Fidelity to do the right thing, to come to the table and get us a contract immediately,” said Asima Memic, a Banquets server for more than 20 years. “We deserve guaranteed benefits, job protections, and so much more.”