Kyle McClenagan/Houston Public Media
Workers picket outside of the Hilton Americas-Houston to demand higher wages on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025.
As the roughly 400-worker strike at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel stretches towards the 40-day mark, about 100 of their fellow union members employed in food and beverage services at the neighboring George R. Brown Convention Center could soon join the picket line.
The employees of the Levy food services company will hold a strike authorization vote on Wednesday, UNITE HERE Local 23 announced last week. Like the striking hotel workers, they’re demanding a $23 hourly wage — about a 30% increase from the current base rate.
Adriana Gonzalez works as a banquet server at the convention center. She was inspired by the “historic” hotel strike.
“I felt very happy,” she said in Spanish. “I’m sure that, because of all of them, we’re going to be able to work out a fair and just contract.”
The base rate for Levy workers is $16 an hour. Gonzalez, who doesn’t earn tips, makes $19 an hour — but even that “is not enough to survive,” she said.
“I’ve had to go to credit cards to pay my bills,” she said. “I’ve had to take food home from work because the wage isn’t enough.”
In a statement, Levy said the company is “disappointed the union has taken this action, and has not yet accepted the invitation to join us at the bargaining table,” but the company remains “optimistic we will reach a fair agreement soon.”
The company projected a muscular position, asserting that company officials “do not anticipate any disruption to service at upcoming events and have plans in place to continue service should a strike occur.”
UNITE HERE 23 did not immediately answer a question about Levy’s claim that the union refused to come to the negotiating table.
Last week, union negotiator Willy Gonzalez asked Mayor John Whitmire and the Houston City Council to examine the construction contracting process for the $2 billion expansion of the George R. Brown Convention Center. Gonzalez had previously called for a wide-ranging audit of Houston First — the city’s tourism and convention organization that owns the hotel and convention center.
“The expansion can be a good thing, but only if it’s done in partnership with the workers that are going to make it a success,” Gonzalez told Houston Public Media. “To expand and have bad low-wage jobs is only going to perpetuate the poverty problem in Houston.”
RELATED: How much money does Hilton Americas-Houston make?
While the financial arrangement between Levy and Houston First remains unclear — with a public records request from Houston Public Media still pending — the local government corporation owns both facilities where the workers are employed. In the case of the hotel, the organization’s fee structure with Hilton works in such a way that any increased wages would only affect Houston First’s bottom line. The union, though, negotiates directly with Levy and Hilton.
“Labor negotiations are a lot of times complicated and difficult,” Houston First CEO and president Michael Heckman told Houston Public Media on Tuesday. “We are confident that both sides are working in good faith … to a resolution. We value those employees and their workers, and we’re confident that at the end of the day, we’ll get to a mutually agreeable agreement for workers and for everybody involved.”
The Hilton workers’ strike, already extended twice, is set to expire on Sunday. Union officials have said their strike fund is strong and have refused to rule out another extension.
UNITE HERE 23 anticipates announcing the results of the convention center workers’ strike authorization vote by tomorrow evening.