The International Longshore & Warehouse Union stands in solidarity with the 4,000 hotel workers of UNITE HERE Local 2 during their strike and subsequent lockout by employers in the city of San Francisco. Of primary concern to Local 2 workers, the ILWU and working families all over America is the alarming rise in health care costs.

The hotel employers proposal—increasing employee premiums nearly 30 times—will make health care an unaffordable luxury for these workers and their families. It is an unconscionable attack on their security and dignity and another example of why the American people need a national single-payer healthcare program. Health care is a human right, not a privilege of the wealthy.

As a union that also negotiates with a multi-employer group, the ILWU also strongly supports Local 2’s efforts to bargain the duration of their next contract so that it coincides with the expiration of other hotel contracts across the country.