Thousands of L.A.-area hotel workers strike for higher pay
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Several thousand hotel workers in greater Los Angeles went on strike Sunday over pay and staffing levels, in one of the largest hotel work stoppages in the region’s history. The strike, affecting a number of major Southern California hotels, puts a strain on hotels during the Fourth of July weekend and as the area hosts a major convention that typically draws tens of thousands.
A core issue is compensation. The rising cost of living, especially housing, is pushing hospitality workers to move hours from where they work, said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, the union representing the hospitality workers.
“This is a fight about housing and who can afford to live in L.A. and who cannot,” he told The Washington Post ahead of the strike. “Housing costs are soaring in [Los Angeles] to heights unknown.”
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In addition to the wage increases, the union is bargaining for guaranteed staffing levels, automatic digital tipping and the continuation of its strong health insurance plan and pension program, Petersen said.
By the time the union’s contract expired Saturday, the only hotel where workers and management could reach a tentative agreement in time to stave off a strike was Westin Bonaventure, whose staff totals about 600.
The hotels unable to strike a deal include JW Marriott, Millennium Biltmore, Fairmont Miramar and Sheraton Universal, a union spokesperson said.
The strike coincides with the Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is sold out this year and runs Saturday through Tuesday. The expo typically draws more than 100,000 attendees, according to its website.
The Hotel Association of Los Angeles assured on Thursday that the “hotel community will continue to provide excellent service in welcoming guests to the Los Angeles area as we always do” in the event of a strike. It added that hotels have been “engaged in good faith collective bargaining” with the union.
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Diana Rios Sanchez, a supervisor at the InterContinental in downtown Los Angeles, said she is going on strike because she can’t afford more than a one-bedroom apartment in the area for herself and her three children.
“I’m going on strike because the pay we’re getting isn’t what we deserve,” said Rios Sanchez, 38, who makes $26.20 an hour. “In California, they’re building more and more hotels, which is raising our rent.”
Southern California has seen a number of labor actions of late, including an ongoing Hollywood writers strike that began in early May. Meanwhile, actors and producers are locked in negotiations, agreeing on Friday to extend the actors union contract — which had been set to expire this weekend — until July 12 to avert a strike. And in late June, some 500 Los Angeles Dodger Stadium workers were poised to strike but stood down after they reached a deal.
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Source: The Washington Post
