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The sidewalk outside the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit on Washington Boulkevard was a mess during the 28-day strike by 160 hotel service workers, which ended Saturday. Picketers circled out front and one often banged a loud drum outside.
Now we learn that backers included the Toronto Maple Leafs, Elton John and a conference of billionaire philanthropists and business leaders.
Louis Aguilar of The Detroit News writes:
The pop legend, the National Hockey League team and the conference called CityLab 2018 were among those who refused to cross the picket line of the unionized bartenders, servers, cashiers, bellmen, front-desk workers and housekeepers during the strike that began on Oct. 7. The workers are represented by the union Unite Here.
The Detroit hotel workers argued that many of them had two jobs because they could not survive on their Book Cadillac pay. The union claimed staff at the nearby Renaissance Center Marriott earned an average of $2 more per hour. Before the strike, a Book Cadillac bellhop was paid $8.50 an hour and a cashier earned $14.50 an hour. Those are below the hourly wages at the three Detroit casinos and the RenCen Marriott, union spokeswoman Rachel Gumpert said.
Unite Here represents more than 20,000 Marriott workers in the United States and Canada.
