UNITE HERE Local 23 via X
Workers at the Marriott Marquis Houston celebration a new union contract that will come with a wage increase.
In another victory for Houston-area hospitality workers, unionized employees at the Marriott Marquis Houston have secured a new contract for higher wages.
The new agreement, which the union announced Thursday, includes a minimum wage increase to $22 per hour by the end of the contract and other benefits such as parking, lowered healthcare costs, a paid holiday for Juneteenth and other worker protections. The new contract will last until 2028 and was ratified by union members two weeks ago, according to UNITE HERE Local 23 leaders. The previous contract expired earlier this year.
William Gonzalez, the secretary and treasurer for UNITE HERE Local 23, said the new contract is the result of months of negotiations.
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“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 what is called premium pay. … So, we increased the amount they actually get paid for paid time off, life vacations and holidays.”
A spokesperson for the downtown hotel did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The new contract, which covers approximately 350 employees at the Marriott Marquis Houston, is the most recent in a series of victories for hospitality workers in the city.
Last September, UNITE HERE Local 23 union workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston went on a 40-day strike to demand a raise and eventually secured a new contract in October.
Less than a month later, in November, workers at the George R. Brown Convention Center secured their own similar contract for increased wages. This was followed a few weeks later by another union victory for airline lounge workers at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
In April, concessions workers at the airport secured an hourly wage increase.
Gonzalez said the Marriott employees’ contract, along with many of the other recent contracts, was based on the initial Hilton agreement.
Kyle McClenagan/Houston Public Media
Workers picket outside of the Hilton Americas-Houston to demand higher wages on Sept. 2, 2025.
“I think the Hilton fight set a framework that several contracts we’ve had — from the convention center to multiple contracts at the airport … and now here at the Marriott — have generally followed,” Gonzalez said. “Every contract is a little different. Every group has different desires they want in their contract, but that basically set the framework.”
Each victory for hospitality workers has had a sort of compounding effect on the next, Gonzalez said.
“Every time we won it just made it more the norm,” he said. “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.”
Gonzalez said the Hilton contract has even started to be used as a framework for workers outside of Houston, like in San Antonio, where workers at a Hyatt hotel won a similar contract.
Backing from local elected officials has also been key to securing union wins, Gonzalez said. Last year, Houston Mayor John Whitmire postponed his “State of the City” address due to the worker strike at the Hilton Americas-Houston, where the annual event is held.
“Mayor Whitmire and [Houston City] Council member Joaquin Martinez have been great,” Gonzalez said. “They’ve been encouraging the employers to sit down and bargain in good faith. They’ve stood by the workers and made it clear they want a good deal for the workers.”