Hotel workers walked out of the city-owned downtown Hilton hotel Monday for a daylong Labor Day strike demanding better pay and better working conditions, making it the first strike in 54 years at any hotel in Baltimore.

Baltimore Unite Here Local 7 represents about 200 workers at the hotel. The action follows similar protests in eight cities across the country on Sunday as contract negotiations have stalled for hotel workers demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

“I work. I sweat. Put a raise on my check,” the picketing workers chanted soon after the strike began. Many passing drivers on the busy downtown street honked in support.

In Baltimore, grievances include reduced health insurance and increased workloads. But workers mainly want an hourly pay raise from $16.20 to $20 — a starting wage comparable to counterparts in nearby cities like Washington and Philadelphia, where they make at least $10 more per hour.

In the District, hotel workers recently bargained for earnings of $33 an hour by the end of their five-year contract. In Philadelphia, about two hours away from Baltimore, workers make about $23 an hour.

Baltimore hotel workers say they have been historically underpaid.

Kim Randall, a union representative who worked at the Hilton between its 2008 opening and this past April, said there needs to greater respect for hospitality workers across the city.

”We came out here to fight because they need to respect us and our work,” Randall said. “They same level of respect that we offer guests to keep this hotel running is what needs to be returned to us.”

Numerous porters, housekeepers and other hospitality workers at the Hilton held signs with messages that read, “One job should be enough” and “On strike. Make them pay.” That drew the attention of guests, including attendees at the National Baptist Convention, who pulled into the hotel’s entrance.

Some guests said they sympathized with the workers on strike and were hopeful that their demand for wages they feel they deserve is met.

“As of now, minimal effects have been felt by our delegates,” said Jerlen Young-Canada, communications director for the National Baptist Convention. “We are fully aware of the ongoing strike and are actively working with our delegates to ensure a smooth and positive experience throughout the convention.”

Negotiations began in November, before the union contract first ended in February, and continued through a roughly six-month extension. Around mid-August a strike authorization vote was held before they could not reach a deal before their contract’s end on Aug. 29.

Baltimore’s well-known Belvedere Hotel was the site of the city’s last hotel worker strike, in December 1969. According to past news articles, 175 bellhops, waiters, housekeepers and other service workers held the multi-day strike after negotiations collapsed, resulting in “numerous cancellations of events.”

Unite Here, which represents 300,000 people across North America, said thousands of local hospitality union workers across the U.S. have approved strike votes at Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and other hotels. They are all demanding higher wages, fair staffing and workloads, and the reversal of COVID-era staffing cuts.

“Many hotels have kept COVID-era service and staffing cuts even as business normalizes – including understaffing, ending automatic daily housekeeping, removing food and beverage options, and more. Hotel staffing per occupied room was down 13% from 2019 to 2022 and down 32% from 1995 to 2022,” according to a news release from the national organization.

Located on West Pratt Street next to the Convention Center, Baltimore’s Hilton has struggled financially since the start of the pandemic, and the city has been stuck with annual payments to help cover its debt after it borrowed more than $300 million by selling bonds to construct the hotel. In 2023, the city earmarked $7 million for the hotel from its annual budget, in addition to $16 million the property had reportedly already received to help pay its debt.

The Baltimore Development Corp., the city’s economic development agency, didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday. Representatives of Hilton also did not respond to a request for comment.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s office issued a statement Monday saying he will continue to monitor negotiations in the coming days and expressing a desire for a “cooling off” period between the union and Hilton.

“We have been closely monitoring negotiations throughout this process, and are confident that ultimately Hilton leadership and UNITE HERE will come to an agreement that works for both parties .... in order to help bring everyone back to the table to discuss a contract in the best interest of both the workers and the City of Baltimore,” the statement said.

The Labor Day strike could be a prelude to a more prolonged work stoppage; the Hilton is not the only hotel under contract negotiations in the city. At the Hyatt Regency, another downtown hotel, workers are also in bargaining talks.

Allied members from other union groups around Baltimore were present Monday to support the Hilton workers. Among them were representatives of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, which recently organized and secured a contract for Towson’s Apple store. Also present were Johns Hopkins graduate student workers with the Teachers and Researchers United group.

Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, who is slated to be the next City Council president, joined the picket line.

“We know that since the pandemic, we have not seen enough respect for these essential workers,” Cohen said. “In Baltimore, they are a big part of workforce because tourism drives a lot of our economy. And while we love our hotels, we love our workers even more. So, what I am here to say is give the Hilton workers a fair contract.”