Global Courant
Hotel workers walk a picket line in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, July 2, 2023. Thousands of hotel workers across Southern California left their jobs early Sunday, demanding higher pay and benefits, which could mark the start of the largest U.S. hotel worker strike in recent memory. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Genaro Molina | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Just as the July 4 holiday weekend kicked into high gear, thousands of Southern California hotel workers began striking Sunday morning to negotiate a contract with higher wages and other benefits, according to the labor union representing the workers.
Members of UNITE HERE Local 11, which says it represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, went on strike at more than a dozen hotels in Los Angeles and Santa Monica after their contracts expired just after midnight. This is evident from messages on the union’s Twitter page.
The participants include cooks, dishwashers, servants, reception staff and room staff, the union said in a press release. A union representative said Friday that the contract covers about 15,000 workers in 65 hotels.
The union’s main demands include a $5 an hour wage increase, access to affordable family health care and stronger workplace protections.
A spokesperson for the union was not immediately available on Sunday to provide more specific details.
Negotiations began on April 20, locals said. Last month, 96% of UNITE HERE Local 11 members voted to approve the strike.
Hotel workers walk a picket line in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, July 2, 2023. Thousands of hotel workers across Southern California left their jobs early Sunday, demanding higher pay and benefits, which could mark the start of the largest U.S. hotel worker strike in recent memory. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The union also says that while hotels received billions in federal bailouts during the pandemic and have since recovered and surpassed pre-pandemic profits, wages have not kept up with rising housing costs. Proponents of affordable housing have said skyrocketing rents are fueling homelessness across California, where nearly 1 million less affordable rental properties are available to extremely low-income renters, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The union has also announced plans for Los Angeles host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup And the 2028 Summer Olympics could exacerbate the housing crisis.
In a statement, Kurt Petersen, co-chair of UNITE HERE Local 11, said it was “shameful” that “the hotel’s negotiators decided to take a four-day vacation instead of negotiating.”
The Los Angeles Hotel Association said in a statement Thursday that hotel management representatives were “actively engaged in good faith collective bargaining” with the union.
“The hotel community will continue to provide excellent service in welcoming guests to the Los Angeles area, as we always do,” it added.
And attorneys Keith Grossman and Ken Ballard said in a statement released Friday on behalf of the Coordinated Bargaining Group — the 44 Los Angeles County and Orange County hotels involved in the negotiations — that the union has “shown no desire to participate productive, good faith negotiations with this group.”
The statement also said that the Coordinated Bargaining Group proposed wage increases of $2.50 an hour in the first year, rising to $6.25 an hour over the next four years.
The strike comes days after the Westin Bonaventure, the city’s largest hotel, reached an agreement regarding its 600 employees, who will receive, among other things, higher wages and pension contributions. the union said.
It also happens during the Anime Expo, a four-day event focused on Japanese pop culture that takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center and draws 100,000 people from around the world. reported the Los Angeles Times.
The strike also comes amid the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike. And the Screen Actors Guild, representing some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, agreed to extend the contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers from July 12 to prevent a strike.
