marriott strikers arrested

CANDIDA KEVORKIAN, ANAND SINGH, WEI-LING HUBER, 38 OTHERS ARRESTED AT MARRIOTT HOTEL STRIKE IN SAN FRANCISCO

Strikers outside of the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco spilled off the sidewalk and into the street on Friday, turning their legal demonstration into cause for arrest, sources say. Among the 41 arrested parties are Wei-Ling Huber and Anand Singh, the presidents of two local chapters of Unite Here, the labor union responsible for organizing the strike. Candida Kevorkian, an employee of the Marriott Marquis, is also known to have been arrested at the scene. It is not currently known whether any of the arrested strikers have hired criminal defense attorneys.

The strike in San Francisco is just one part of a huge strike organized by labor union Unite Here against Marriott International, involving eight cities and 7,700 Marriott workers. The employees are spread out the US from Maui to Boston, but they are all looking for the same thing: improved workplace safety, job security, and monetary compensation.

On Friday, strikers apparently migrated from the sidewalk into the road, where they stopped traffic and refused to move when asked to by law enforcement. No one was reported injured during the arrests. It is not currently publicly known whether all of the arrested parties have been released.

The Marriott Marquis, where rooms typically cost over $200 per night, was the scene of the arrests. “I took arrest for the same reason I’ve been on strike for nine days: one job should be enough for hotel workers like me,” Candida Kevorkian, who cleans rooms at the Marriott Westin St. Francis, reportedly told the press. “My job at Marriott is not enough to pay the rent. Three generations of my family have to share one apartment.”

Anand Singh seemed to echo Kevorkian’s sentiment. “Months of bargaining with Marriott got us nowhere close to a livable income, safe workloads, or job security, and we’re not backing down,” Singh said in a prepared statement. Only time will tell whether more arrests will follow as the strike continues. 

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