Hotel workers union asks Taylor Swift to postpone Los Angeles-area shows
A labor union representing thousands of hotel housekeepers in Southern California is asking Taylor Swift to postpone her upcoming concerts at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood until they are paid “a living wage.”
UNITE HERE Local 11 published an open letter to the pop star in The Los Angeles Times on Thursday.
“We make beds, clean bathrooms, and take care of every guest need. Your shows make our hotels a lot of money,” the letter reads. “In Los Angeles, hotels are doubling and tripling what they charge because you are coming. They also add junk fees on rooms, just like Ticketmaster does. But we see none of it.”
Experts predict Swift’s 52-night, 20-city tour will become the highest-grossing of all time. It is also having a notable economic impact on each city she visits with the surge of Swifties snatching up hotel rooms at jacked-up rates.
She is slated to perform six straight nights at SoFi Stadium beginning Aug. 3.
Hotel workers have been staging labor actions in the Los Angeles area since the start of July as they negotiate for increased pay and benefits. They have also joined striking Hollywood writers and actors on the picket lines.
Taylor Swift performs onstage on the first night of her “Eras Tour” at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on March 31, 2023. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP) (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Union leaders hope Swift will lend support to their cause.
“She has taken on corporate greed to make sure artists get fairly compensate and that those workers behind the scenes in her own music get the treatment they deserve,” Ada Briceno, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, said at a rally on Thursday outside of the Hyatt Regency at LAX.
There is no indication the pop star is considering postponing her Inglewood shows.
Source: KTLA Los Angeles
