Union for Colonial Williamsburg hospitality workers plans protest

WILLIAMSBURG — Unite Here Local 25, the union that represents the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s hospitality workers, announced plans to protest the Grand Illumination celebration today, citing unfair working conditions.

The Washington-based union has represented the foundation’s hospitality workers for more than 50 years and currently has about 220 members.

According to the union’s executive secretary-treasurer John Broadman, the union and foundation have been in negotiations since May and reached several agreements.

However, Broadman said they could not come to an agreement on the number of hours employees can work in a week — as some reported working six days a week with few breaks. As a result, their contract, an extension from 2018, expired at the end of November.

As the union could not reach an agreement, Broadman said workers will host a protest to gain attention to the poor working conditions.

“There is a significant portion of their workforce that is forced to work six, sometimes seven days a week, month after month, and they have been doing this for the better part of the year in the middle of the pandemic,” Broadman said.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation responded to the planned protest in a news release Friday morning. According to the release, the foundation is continuing efforts to reach a fair agreement.

While the foundation has agreed to certain provisions, the release states it will not allow union representatives to interrupt employee work areas and hours. Additionally, the foundation indicated it won’t agree to the union’s request not to hire temporary employees.

According to the release, the foundation and union leaders agreed to continue negotiations following the contract expiration. However, Broadman said the organization attempted to contact the foundation on numerous occasions to continue talks but has not heard from it.

The foundation said it has been trying for many months to give pay raises to union employees, but, without a contract, cannot enact them.

According to the National Labor Rights Act, employers cannot give across-the-board pay raises or offer more generous paid leave on its own without consulting the union.

“Colonial Williamsburg believes strongly that our employees, for whom we are very grateful, should not be penalized financially as a result of this disagreement with the union,” according to the release.

“Going public with our disagreements is not how we had hoped to continue these negotiations with the union, but foundation leaders are committed to working hard to get a fair agreement.”

The organization anticipates that more than 100 Colonial Williamsburg workers from the hotels and restaurants in the Historic Area will participate in the protest from noon to 1 p.m. today on the Northwest corner of S. England Street and Newport Avenue.

This weekend is the first of three of the Grand Illumination celebration, one of Colonial Williamsburg’s largest events.

The all-day events include holiday festivities throughout the Historic Area as well as a fireworks display.