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After nine-day strike, Sheraton hotel workers have a tentative contract agreement

Unionized hotel workers walked off the job on June 21. They had previously carried out a four-day strike in October.

Employees at the downtown Sheraton Hotel represented by UNITE HERE Local 274, marched through Center City Wednesday.
Employees at the downtown Sheraton Hotel represented by UNITE HERE Local 274, marched through Center City Wednesday. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Center City hotel workers at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown have been on strike since June 21, but they could soon be back at work.

On Monday afternoon, Unite Here local 274, the union that represents the workers, announced that it had reached a tentative deal for a new contract for roughly 200 employees at the hotel, which includes raises and improvements to benefits.

Workers were expected to vote Monday on whether to ratify the new deal. If they do, they will be back at their jobs on Tuesday, the union said.

It’s the second time that this group of workers has gone out on strike in the last year as it negotiates for a new contract. Hotel employees of the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown last walked off the job for four days in October.

“When we said we were fighting for $30 an hour at the beginning of this campaign, a lot of people told us we were asking for the impossible,” Shafeek Anderson, a hotel steward, said in a union statement Monday. “With this victory, we have shown the whole industry that nothing is impossible when the workers stick together.”

The Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown is managed by Aimbridge Hospitality and owned by CL Hotels. These businesses did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

Unite Here local 274 has been negotiating new contracts for room attendants, cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, and banquet staff across several Philadelphia hotels for over a year.

Contracts expired in 2024, and new contracts have since been reached at Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center, Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, the Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel, Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District, and Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square.

The standard set in these new union contracts includes raises to $30 an hour by 2028 for non-tipped employees and an increase in employer contributions to worker pensions. The new contracts also cap the number of rooms a worker can be tasked with cleaning to 15 per day.

The remaining hotel without a new contract is the Hilton Garden Inn Center City.