My dad raised me to know the value of a union job. Anthony “Tony” Vallati was a Teamster my whole life and always said, “When you get a job, make sure it’s in a union. Then get involved, become your shop’s steward and make sure to be proud of it.”

So, I did. When I returned to the workforce after raising my kids, I looked for a decent job. There wasn’t much out there, but I grew up in New Haven and didn’t want to leave, so I got a job at the Omni. It was the only union hotel around. I work as a room attendant, cleaning up after and making rooms ready for the guests of our city. I like my job, and I’m good at it.

But the Omni Hotel management and ownership doesn’t respect me or my colleagues. It’s always been a fight to get them to respect our contract and our contributions to their success. Since November 2023, we have been negotiating for a fair contract, and they haven’t made any progress that gets us closer to the contract we deserve.

I come to work and try my hardest to make our hotel welcoming and clean for our guests, and I do a great job. But management doesn’t make it easy for me or my coworkers. We don’t have enough materials to do our jobs in a timely way, so the work piles up and we have to rush to get the job done — and when we rush, we get hurt. You’d think the Omni is struggling, but profits are up.

While Omni Hotels & Resorts and its billionaire owner make more earnings than ever, workers like myself are getting poorer by the day. We all know the cost of living is through the roof, rents are rising faster than anyone can keep up with.

Our city is in crisis, workers like me who have a decent job are on the edge of being forced out of our homes and need more than one job to survive, maybe three to make ends meet month to month. But people don’t see us. It seems like every time I read about New Haven in magazines or news media, they claim that this city is booming. They say that biotech is going to save our city. But what will it do to save the hospitality workers like me who will be left behind?

These big new construction sites across the city promise more housing, but for whom? For us residents that work every day to make our city run? I know I can’t afford an apartment in one of these “luxury” developments. 

What can we do? Organize! We must keep fighting for a city where we can all live in peace and stability. 

I organize and my daughters organize because we know the power of a union. Julia worked at the Graduate during their union drive, she was a bartender there in the Old Heidelberg. She saw the issues in the hotel and fought back, and won a union and a contract! My other daughter, Charlé, got a job as a housekeeper, a hard and thankless job, at the Cambria on Frontage Road. She signed many of her coworkers on union cards, and she won the union there too. 

When the pandemic hit, my union and I stood up and fought for recall rights to make sure we could come back to our jobs when the hotels reopened, which was granted. My daughters fought and won their union, and with it higher wages and better health care. Together, we will keep fighting for a better standard in our city’s hospitality industry and a stable future for families like ours. 

One month ago, my coworkers and I unanimously voted to authorize a strike. Even so, we gave management at the Omni several weeks to settle a fair contract that demonstrates respect for our work. 

But enough is enough. Last week, we gave the Omni a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on September 11 to settle. If they don’t, we are prepared to strike. Omni has had plenty of time and money, but us workers do not. We have rent and bills to pay. We have kids and parents to take care of. 

We are proud to contribute to New Haven’s hospitality industry, and we want our guests to enjoy their stay at the Omni. We don’t want to strike, but it’s time for Omni to respect our work, respect our guests and make some changes.

CARLA VALLATI is a Room Attendant at Omni New Haven and a Local 217-UNITE HERE Shop Steward.