About 100 workers laid off from Boston's Marriott Copley Place hotel this week held a rally outside Friday calling for the company to give them their jobs back after the coronavirus pandemic ends.
They said they would rather be doing their jobs inside the hotel but are now deeply worried about what the future holds.
"I'm out here fighting for my future. This was my future," said former Marriott worker Hakeem Drayton, adding that his future now looks bleak.
Marriott said in a statement that the "hotel has experienced unprecedented business impact due to the pandemic" and that it "worked diligently to offer a severance that is competitive within the industry" to the workers it laid off.
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Workers said they are receiving a fraction of the severance pay that was promised them.
More than 200 workers in total were laid off, according to the union Unite Here, which does not represent workers at the Marriott but has been advocating for them.
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"What's happened here is the most cynical and disgusting act that an employer in the middle of a pandemic could take, which is to literally throw families in the street,” Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo said at the protest.
