RECIPIENT OF THE DC BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION 2023 LEGACY AWARD
Serving Our Community in the DMV
Vol 59 No 36...June 20 - 26, 2024
2024 Tax Sale Supplement Center Section
Hospitality Workers Secure New Contract with Salary Increase, Benefits
Workers Reflect on the Power of Union Organizing By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5(Front Row) Hong Nguyen, Gregory Wilkins and Hamidu Jalloh Laurore voted on the new contract that UNITE HERE Local 25 negotiated with more than 20 District hotels and restaurants. (Robert R. Roberts/ The Washington Informer)
With the ratification of a new contract, thousands of local hospitality workers averted a strike and what would’ve been years of labor disputes with industry leaders. Throughout much of Thursday, more than 1,000 hotel and restaurant workers voted on, and overwhelmingly approved, a four-year contract that their union, UNITE HERE Local 25, spent several months solidifying with more than 20 District hotels and restaurants. Provisions of that contract include a more-than-25% wage increase over four years, medical, vision, and dental coverage for workers and their families, an expanded pension package, no combination of job duties, and the guarantee of a positive work environment.
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
REPORT Page 24
HOSPITALITY Page 46
As Advanced Technical Center Prepares for Expansion, D.C. Students Celebrate Successes
Collins Council Report: D.C. Council Unanimously Approves FY 2025 on Second Reading On its second reading, the D.C. Council unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024 on Wednesday, June 12, thus (almost) concluding a budget season defined by concerns about growing expenditures and what the future holds for a jurisdiction bouncing back from a pandemic. The council’s vote on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Support Act of 2024 is tentatively scheduled for June 25. In his opening remarks, D.C. Council Chairman Mendelson said this budget season proved to be difficult due to what he described as inaccuracies on the part of
For some workers, like Angela Jones, the contract represented the end of a treacherous journey that started during the pandemic. “We have not had a raise since COVID,” said Jones, a food service aide at Marriott Marquis in Northwest. She explained the hard times the pandemic presented and continued challenges. “Some of us didn’t even work. It was miserable, especially if you were used to getting up every day with something to do,” Jones continued as she reflected on the significance of the new contract. “We need extra [money] and we need our pension. It means stability and something we can count on when we leave without running out of our savings.” In total, UNITE HERE Local 25 represents 6,500 housekeepers, servers, stew-
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5Shortly after announcing a $9.5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies that will expand the Advanced Technical Center on June 7, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) takes a tour of the facility, housed within the Lemuel Penn Center in Northeast. (Photo by E. Watson/EDI)
As the 2023-2024 school year wraps up, Syieda Tomlinson continues to look back on what she calls an academic experience that made her goal of becoming an obstetrician more of a reality. For months, Syieda spent two days out of the school week traveling between her home in Ward 7 and the Advanced Technical Center (ATC) in Northeast. At the ATC, she and other D.C. public and public charter school students complete nurs-
TECH CENTER Page 46
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