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Warwick Rittenhouse Square hotel reaches a deal with its worker union, averting a strike

The hotel has agreed to pay housekeepers and other Unite Here workers $30 per hour and provide added benefits, preventing a labor strike.

Employees at the downtown Sheraton Hotel represented by Unite Here Local 274, march through Center City Wednesday, after stopping at the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square (rear). They walked off the job on June 21 demanding $30 per hour wages by 2028, additional healthcare resources, and other benefits that would put them on par with what other hotel workers have recently gotten in new union contracts.
Employees at the downtown Sheraton Hotel represented by Unite Here Local 274, march through Center City Wednesday, after stopping at the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square (rear). They walked off the job on June 21 demanding $30 per hour wages by 2028, additional healthcare resources, and other benefits that would put them on par with what other hotel workers have recently gotten in new union contracts.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Unionized staff at Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia have reached a deal with hotel management for a new labor contract, avoiding a strike that would have begun Friday.

The hotel workers unanimously ratified an agreement that will deliver a $30 minimum wage by 2028, easier access to healthcare for their children, pension increases, and new regulations protecting immigrant workers, union officials said Thursday. It covers 50 union workers, including housekeepers.

It’s the latest win for union hotel workers in Center City pushing for a pay and benefits package their union, Unite Here Local 274, calls “the citywide standard.”

“Last year, people thought it was crazy that hotel housekeepers could make $30 an hour,” said union president Rosslyn Wuchinich at an event Thursday supporting union Peco employees, who are planning a work stoppage for July 4.

The hotel union has shown it will go on strike to achieve its goals, Wuchinich said.

The nearby Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown has been on strike since June 21. On Wednesday, some of its striking workers paraded around the Warwick, playing drums and singing union songs — giving Warwick management a sense of what could be in store.

“We have been fighting these greedy hotel companies, private equity companies, real estate investment trusts, since last year for justice for hotel workers,” Wuchinich told a crowd of union members Thursday.

New York-based Bluesky Hospitality Solutions, which manages the hotel, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. Property owner Navika Capital could not be reached.

The contract expires in January 2028, according to Mat Wranovics, an organizer with Unite Here Local 274. In addition to the changes to wages and benefits, the contract lowers the maximum number of hotel rooms that housekeeping workers can clean per shift from 16 rooms to 15 rooms, he said.

The contract also includes protections for immigrant workers, Wranovics said. The new rules set limits to how much information the employer may share information with law enforcement.

Six unionized Center City hotels have now bargained similar contracts:

  1. The Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia

  2. Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing

  3. Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District

  4. Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square

  5. Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel

  6. Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center

That leaves the striking Sheraton Downtown workers, as well as those at Hilton Garden Inn Center City, who are not on strike and continue to work under an expired contract. Both are pushing for a similar wage raise to $30 an hour, Wranovics said.

“We are in negotiations, but there is a real possibility of strike there,” he said of the Hilton Garden Inn Center City.