Unite Here! Local 7 has been boycotting this Sheraton for a year now. Also, 2.2 million has been taken out of this hotel by customers.

This Sheraton is owned by a company called Columbia-Sussex, who bought it two years ago the same time their contract expired, and has refused to negotiate a new contract with the union. They have cut benefits, raised the cost of the workers’ health insurance to four times what it was before, and recently fired outspoken union supporters, who are now fighting to get their jobs back Bill Yung, the CEO, publicly declared that he would never negotiate with a union, but went back on his word this summer when he settled with UNITE HERE in Philadelphia. He’s facing boycotts and other labor disputes in Northern Virginia, Anchorage, and many other cities where workers are standing up for their rights. As the picketers declared on the 18th, they are determined to last out this struggle “one day longer” than their bosses. According to housekeeper Darlene Harrison, “We’re gonna pull through this and we’re gonna win!”

I’ve written about Columbia-Sussex before. They have issues dealing with the local at the Hilton in Crystal City (Arlington, VA) as well. They refuse to cooperate with the workers there. They are just plain hostile to the idea of workers organizing.