Unionized employees at the Marriott Marquis Houston have secured a new contract that will raise the minimum wage to $22 per hour by the end of the agreement, the latest in a series of labor victories for Houston-area hospitality workers that is reshaping wage standards across the region.
The contract, ratified by union members two weeks ago and announced Thursday, covers approximately 350 employees at the downtown hotel. It runs through 2028 and includes additional benefits such as lower healthcare costs, free parking, a paid holiday for Juneteenth and increased premium pay for tipped workers’ paid time off, vacations and holidays.
William Gonzalez, secretary and treasurer for UNITE HERE Local 23, said the agreement builds on a framework established by last year’s high-profile 40-day strike at the Hilton Americas-Houston, where workers eventually secured a contract with a $20 minimum wage.
“In the next, a little over two years, they’re going to get $5.50 per hour raises,” Gonzalez said. “For tipped workers, we increased the amount they actually get paid for paid time off, life vacations and holidays.”
The Marriott contract follows several other recent wins: George R. Brown Convention Center workers secured increased wages in November, airline lounge workers at Bush Intercontinental Airport won a contract in December, and airport concessions workers obtained a wage increase in April. A spokesperson for the Marriott Marquis Houston did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gonzalez said each victory has had a compounding effect, making the Hilton framework the new standard for hospitality contracts. “What’s happening out of the Hilton contract is becoming the standard. The more it becomes the standard, the more it raises the level for all hospitality workers, kind of like the rising tide lifts all boats.”
The model has even spread beyond Houston, with San Antonio hotel workers at a Hyatt property winning a similar contract based on the same framework. Gonzalez said backing from local elected officials has been critical, noting that Houston Mayor John Whitmire postponed his State of the City address last year due to the Hilton strike, where the annual event is traditionally held. The pattern of successive wins has also emboldened workers in other sectors, with Gonzalez noting that the union has received inquiries from hospitality workers in other Texas cities interested in organizing.
“Mayor Whitmire and City Council member Joaquin Martinez have been great,” Gonzalez said. “They’ve been encouraging the employers to sit down and bargain in good faith.”
