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    Hotel Workers Nationwide Go on Strike: What to Know if You’re Traveling Soon

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    Though hotel chains say they’ll continue to operate normally, travelers could see disruptions as employees walked off the job in cities from Boston to Honolulu. Here’s what to know.Over the busy Labor Day weekend, thousands of front-desk workers, housekeepers and other employees at more than a dozen hotels across the country walked off the job on early Sunday after failing to come to an agreement in contract negotiations.The strikes — which as of Sunday morning were called at hotels in Boston; Greenwich, Conn.; San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle and in Hawaii — were scheduled to last three days, just as many travelers’ holiday weekend plans were in full swing. More hotel workers in other cities could also soon announce strikes.The strike comes as thousands of workers at Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni properties across the country — in about 12 cities stretching from Honolulu to Boston — have been engaged in contentious talks since at least May.The workers, members of Unite Here, which represents many segments of the hospitality industry, have been pushing for higher wages and to address pandemic-era staffing and service cuts that have left some employees feeling overwhelmed.“The hotel industry has rebounded from the pandemic, and room rates are at record highs,” Gwen Mills, Unite Here’s international president, said in a statement before the strike. “But hotel workers can’t afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to. Too many hotel workers have to work two or sometimes three jobs in order to make ends meet.”The affected hotels say they plan to stay open, perhaps with modified services, but they may not always notify travelers that a strike is happening. So inquire ahead of time, or you may be surprised to find a spirited picket line in front of your hotel when you arrive.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      4 Hotel Workers Charged with Murder of D’vontaye Mitchell

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      Four workers who pinned down D’vontaye Mitchell, 43, outside a Milwaukee Hyatt hotel in June were charged with murder. His family said he had been having a mental health crisis.Four hotel workers were charged Tuesday with murder in the death of D’vontaye Mitchell, a Black man who died outside a Milwaukee hotel after being subdued by staff members in a scene that was recorded on video and caused a public outcry.Mr. Mitchell’s family says he was having a mental health crisis when hotel staff members tried to subdue him after he ran through the lobby and into the women’s restroom. An autopsy showed that asphyxiation, cocaine and methamphetamine had contributed to his death.The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office announced the charge of felony murder against four people: Todd Alan Erickson, 60; Brandon Ladaniel Turner, 35; Devin W. Johnson-Carson, 23; and Herbert T. Williamson, 52. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and nine months.Prosecutors said arrest warrants had been issued for the men, though it was unclear if they had been arrested by late Tuesday.Mr. Erickson and Mr. Turner worked as security guards at the Hyatt Hotel in Milwaukee, prosecutors said. Mr. Williamson worked as a bell attendant, and Mr. Johnson-Carson worked at the front desk. All four were fired after Mr. Mitchell’s death.The charges filed in court Tuesday came after an autopsy report released on Friday ruled the death a homicide and found that Mr. Mitchell, 43, had died from a combination of “restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine” as he was held down by hotel workers in a prone position on June 30. The report also noted that Mr. Mitchell had been obese and had hypertensive cardiovascular disease.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Six People Dead, Apparently by Poisoning, in Thailand, Police Say

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      The dead did not show outward signs of injury. Mass violence is unusual in the capital, Bangkok.Six people were found dead on Tuesday in a hotel room at a Grand Hyatt in the heart of downtown Bangkok, according to police officials, who said they appeared to have been poisoned.Two of the dead were Americans of Vietnamese descent and four were Vietnamese nationals, according to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Police Maj. Gen. Theeradej Thumsuthee, chief investigator of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, who was being interviewed on Nation TV, a Thai news channel, said three of the dead were men, and three were women.“From the preliminary examination of the scene, it was assumed that they had been poisoned,” General Theeradej said. He added that there were traces that all six drank coffee or tea. A preliminary autopsy did not find any injuries, he said.A guide was being questioned, he said.Police Lt. Gen. Thiti Saengsawang, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, told reporters that there were no signs of a struggle. The bodies were found in the same room, a suite. All six were supposed to check out on Tuesday and had their bags packed.Mass violence is unusual in Bangkok, but the capital was shaken by a shooting last October when a 14-year-old gunman opened fire in a luxury shopping mall, eventually killing three people.The Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel is on a busy intersection in Bangkok’s city center. It sits opposite the Erawan Shrine, the site of a deadly bombing in 2015 that killed 20 people. More

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      J.B. Pritzker Is Democrats’ ‘Break Glass’ Candidate

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      CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois sat comfortably in an office board room high above the Loop on Monday and halfheartedly batted away the notion that he was preparing a run for the White House.The billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune may be seen by some Democrats as the “in case of emergency break glass” candidate, one of the few prominent politicians who could stand up a White House run at a moment’s notice. Although President Biden has said he intends to mount a campaign, that has not eased Democrats’ obvious worry: the famously dilatory Hamlet on the Potomac might decide not to run for re-election at 81, and worry could turn to panic.But while Mr. Pritzker declined to provide a yea or nay on whether he would run, he added that a last-minute swap of an understudy for Mr. Biden was “such an odd hypothetical if you ask me.”“I think it assumes a lot of things about someone who’s 80 in this world today. No kidding, you know, 80 is a lot different today than it was in the ’80s,” he said with his signature aw-shucks wave.Politicians hate hypotheticals, or say they do to dodge questions, but if Mr. Biden cannot or will not run, the Democratic Party would have 3.6 billion reasons — Forbes’s most recent estimate of Mr. Pritzker’s net worth — to turn to the Illinois governor.“I intend to be impactful in the 2024 elections, helping Democrats run for Congress, helping Democrats run for United States Senate, and helping Joe Biden win re-election,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.Evan Jenkins for The New York TimesFour months after winning a second term by 12.5 percentage points, Jay Robert Pritzker, 58, has maintained his political operation and his ambition. His influence and money reach far beyond state lines, and a string of progressive victories in the last year has raised his stature.“He would run for two good reasons,” said Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Peoria who served as a transportation secretary in the Obama administration. “He’s a billionaire who’s not afraid to spend his own money, and he’s very progressive, which is where the Democratic Party is today.”Indeed, Mr. Pritzker has turned center-left Illinois into an island of prairie progressivism, much as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who won re-election last year by 19 points, has enacted a blood-red “Florida Blueprint” that he is now pitching to the wider nation ahead of an expected campaign.And while Mr. DeSantis has created a conservative bastion in Florida over the wishes of millions in his diverse state, Mr. Pritzker’s policies have rankled much of Illinois beyond Chicagoland. Under his leadership, the legislature has approved a $15 minimum wage, legalized recreational cannabis, ended cash bail, guaranteed access to abortions and gender-affirming care and banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.Who’s Running for President in 2024?Card 1 of 6The race begins. More