Why Airbnb Won’t 'Fight For $15'
A controversial deal between Airbnb and one of the US’s largest labor unions has fallen apart after countrywide backlash from labor and housing activists.
Airbnb had been in talks to strike a deal with the Service Employees International Union to endorse their hotel workers and the broader “Fight for $15” movement to increase the minimum wage—but criticism from other unions along with the SEIU’s own members sent the SEIU packing, the Guardian reports.
Instead, SEIU said it plans to work with Unite Here, a separate union that represents hotel workers—and was fighting against an SEIU-Airbnb partnership.
The $15/hour minimum wage has been sweeping the nation, and Airbnb looked poised to put more pressure on hotels and industrial tenants with an endorsement. As the deal falls through, both the SEIU and the homesharing behemoth have missed out on a potential political ally. [Guardian]
