BALTIMORE, MD--Union employees at the Pikesville Hilton ratified a new contract after eight months of struggle. Despite management's aggressive efforts to roll back wages and benefits and to break the union, Local 7 members stood strong for a fair agreement with solid wage increases, better benefits, and important health and safety provisions.

...Local 7 members [worked] hard [for this victory]--the negotiating committee and the many Hilton employees that walked picket lines, participated in delegations to management and hotel customers, attended meetings, and never stopped organizing for a better contract.

Local 7 ... thanks the other organizations that stood with the workers during this struggle: the Baltimore Council, AFL-CIO; the Baltimore Branch NAACP; IATSE Local 19; CAGE; the Towson Action Group; IAFF 964; Global Toxin; OPEIU Local 37; ACORN; SEIU 1199; UFCW Local 27; the Labor Religion Outreach Coalition, AFL-CIO; AFSCME Local 3737; Local 1923, Local 44, Local 647, and Local 3085; AFGE Local 1923; and all the individuals who walked picket lines and lent their support in other ways to make this victory possible.

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress"--Frederick Douglass