CNN
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Hotel workers in Baltimore are participating in a massive nationwide strike against three major hotel chains on one of the most important travel holidays of the year.

Unite Here, the hotel workers union, said about 200 hotel workers walked off the job this morning at the Hilton Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

Hotel unions are currently on strike in 25 U.S. cities. More than 10,200 hotel employees in dozens of hotels from Boston across the West Coast to Hawaii began striking early Sunday morning.

“I walked off the job today because we simply cannot continue working paycheck to paycheck and pay our bills,” Jerome Roberts, a dishwasher at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, said in a statement. “Striking is hard, but not nearly as hard as trying to make ends meet on what we make. We told the bosses in our negotiations how much we are struggling right now, but they didn’t care. We are striking so they pay for it.”

Workers say they want higher wages, better conditions and more support staff. The union is demanding the restoration of many of the cuts made during the pandemic, including daily room cleaning. The union says the travel and hotel industry has recovered from the pandemic, but workers’ salaries do not reflect the recovery.

Hotels are reportedly still open, but guests are struggling with skeleton staff unable to provide full service.

“We are striking because the hotel industry is off track,” Gwen Mills, international president of Unite Here, said in a statement Sunday morning. “Everyone suffered during Covid, but now the hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are being left behind. Too many hotels have still not restored the standard services that guests deserve. Workers are not earning enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities where they welcome guests.”

The hotel chains affected by strikes include Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott. According to the union, the hotels have a total of 23,776 rooms in the cities of Baltimore, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Honolulu and Kauai in Hawaii and Greenwich, Connecticut.

The union is threatening to potentially expand the strike to as many as 65 hotels in 12 different cities, possibly including hotels in Oakland, California, as well as Providence, Rhode Island and New Haven, Connecticut. Spokespeople for Hilton and Hyatt told CNN on Friday they are committed to reaching agreements with the union but will continue to serve guests even during a work stoppage.

Hyatt said in a statement that it was disappointed with the union’s decision to strike. “We look forward to continuing to negotiate fair contracts and recognizing the contributions of Hyatt employees,” said Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s director of labor relations.

Last year, the same union’s 15,000 members went on strike at 65 hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County in Southern California over the Fourth of July weekend. They returned to work a few days later, but in the months that followed they staged a series of rolling strikes, sometimes coinciding with key tourist periods, such as the weekend of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Los Angeles.

These strikes are scheduled to end after three days.