Berkeleyside30%
Workers at Berkeley’s Graduate by Hilton hotel push to unionize 12%
By Tony Hicks9%
7/21/2026, 11:29:07 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Anecdotal, and Politically Left Leaning Bias, with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 8.9% saturation with 76 hits. Analysis detected 764 faulty-reasoning hits from 854 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 28.9% and a BS Rank of 12% (17,291 of 19,472 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 88.80% of the article peer group.
Workers at Berkeley’s Graduate by Hilton hotel are looking to form a union, saying the hotel in the Southside neighborhood is understaffed, they’re underpaid and they want better health benefits.
More than a dozen workers and supporters chanted and marched with signs Friday on a late afternoon picket line.
Representatives for the Unite Here Local 2 union say hotel employees went to management with a petition on July 10, formally requesting to unionize, and that the petition has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Union spokesperson Sonya Karabel said the petition was endorsed by a majority of the hotel’s approximately 40 non-management employees.
A vote is scheduled for July 31.
“They want better working conditions,” Karabel said.
“They want a wage where they can actually afford to live in Berkeley or near Berkeley, and they want decent health care coverage.”
Graduate by Hilton Berkeley, located at 2600 Durant Ave., just east of Telegraph Avenue, is part of Schulte Hospitality Group, owned by Nashville-based AJ Capital Partners, and Hilton, which owns Graduate Hotels.
Formerly The Durant Hotel, the site is college-themed and has close ties with nearby UC Berkeley.
A message left for hotel management went unreturned Friday.
A desk worker said the manager was out for the day.
Messages left for media representatives of Schulte Hospitality Group and AJ Capital Partners went unreturned.
A Hilton spokesperson said on Sunday the company isn’t involved in any hotel labor issues and would pass a message to hotel management.
Eric Crawford is a front desk supervisor who’s worked at the hotel for nearly four years.
He said management seems receptive to workers’ demands, “so hopefully they’ll be able to work with us and hear what we have to say.”
“It’s great working here, but I would like to have respect,” Crawford said.
“At least for me, what’s important is to have respect and cheaper health care.
I got the lowest tier of health care, which means I’m discouraged to go the doctor because it doesn’t cover much.”
Crawford, who lives in Oakland, said hotel workers in San Francisco typically make more money than in Berkeley.
“I’d like better wages; the cost of living in the area is really high.
There’s room to grow; it could be better.”
Irvin Garcia is a housekeeper who’s worked at the hotel for four years.
“We just want better treatment,” said Garcia, who rolled his scooter while balancing a bowl of food on the picket line.
“We’re human.
We deserve better.
There’s too much work for not [enough pay].”
Picketers said they were frustrated by what happened in April at Hilton’s Graduate Hotel in downtown Palo Alto.
Dozens of employees were suddenly laid off and replaced by temporary contract workers.
The hospitality business saw a steep downturn during the pandemic, and the Bay Area’s recovery has been among the worst in the nation.
Berkeley has been somewhat shielded by its college-town identity, faring better than San Francisco and Oakland, but decreased demand and rising costs have still plagued the city’s hotels.
Its largest hotel, the 378-room DoubleTree by Hilton on the waterfront, stopped paying rent for its city-owned property last year and was at risk of default.
Karabel said hotels have used the pandemic as an excuse to lay off workers in recent years, but she said business at Berkeley’s Graduate is strong.
“UC Berkeley makes up a huge amount of its business, whether directly or indirectly,” she said.
“The trends here really are very different than the rest of the industry.”
Trevor Jackson, co-chair of the UC Berkeley Faculty Association, said he was invited to join the protest.
He said he knows the university does a lot of business with the hotel and he wanted to support its workers.
“I’m a professor of history and I will tell you history is on your side,” Jackson told picketers.
“We got your back.”
Maricela Castro told the group through a Spanish translator she has worked at the hotel for 30 years.
She said she’s a room attendant who makes $23 an hour and feels like she does the work of two people.
“What’s best for all of us,” Castro said.
“That’s what I really want.
I want to see this through because I want the best for all of us.”
At least two UC Berkeley students joined the protesters.
Catherine Boland is a junior and a member of Students for International Labor Solidarity.
She said it’s important to support the workers, some of whom are students.
“I think it’s really crucial for students to support their community, support their workers and make sure this hotel is organized, and their rights to unionize are respected,” Boland said.
Karabel said the union has heard the hotel has hired a labor management consulting firm that has met with workers.
She said the union wants to make sure no one threatens or intimidates employees.
“I think you can see that the community is standing with us and saying they should respect workers’ right to decide for themselves about whether they want a union,” she said.
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