Hospitality workers begin strikes at 2 Center City hotels

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Hospitality workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 274 have begun strikes at two of the Center City Philadelphia hotels with expired contracts.

Among those striking are hotel room attendants, cooks, bartenders and other hospitality workers.

At about 5 a.m. Sunday, members of the union began walking picket lines in front of the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown at 17th and Race streets, and the Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center at 13th and Race streets.

According to the union, employees are demanding significant wage and pension increases, improvements in health care coverage, and an end to long-term trends of understaffing - all before the anticipated surge in tourism expected in 2026.

UNITE HERE Local 274 has created a website with up-to-date information regarding the labor disputes and strikes at the hotels.

Action News has reached out to the hotels for comment.