UNITE HERE is in talks again today with hotel management in Washington D.C. UNITE HERE’s Press Secretary Amanda Cooper says progress was made last week and she’s hopeful about today’s talks.

[Cooper 1]: “We hope that every time we get together we make progress but we’re still in strike preparation because if we don’t get to the contract that we need by the fifteenth we need to move on.”

But Cooper says strike preparations for the inaugural are still underway because a contract must be resolved before the inauguration. One reason hotel workers want to settle their contract before the inauguration is they say there’s a good chance they will be locked out after it if they are still without a new contract.

[Cooper 2]: “Here they’re approaching this very lucrative time for their business and when they’re done squeezing every last ounce of work out of our members they’re gonna kick ‘em to the curb. That’s obviously not acceptable. We can’t go into this busy and important season without a secure contract in place and we’re gonna do what it takes.”

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