Los Angeles-area hotel workers strike over wages, housing
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[July 03, 2023]
By Steve Gorman and Gabriella Borter
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Thousands of Los Angeles-area hotel workers went
on strike on Sunday demanding pay hikes and improved benefits in a
region where high housing costs make it difficult for low-wage earners
to live close to where they hold jobs, union officials said.
Unite Here Local 11, which represents 15,000 workers at more than 60
major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties, declared the strike a
day after the workers' contract expired. It marks one of the largest
strikes to hit the U.S. hospitality industry in recent years.
The labor dispute comes during the July Fourth holiday weekend as
Southern California's busy summer travel season goes into high swing. It
overlaps with a Hollywood screenwriters strike that was headed into a
ninth week, already taking a toll on the Los Angeles economy and showbiz
production.
Hotel workers, including housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks, waiters,
bellhops and front-desk agents, struggle to afford housing in cities
where they work, and many were idled during the COVID-19 pandemic while
industry profits soared, the union said in a statement.
"Our members were devastated first by the pandemic and now by the greed
of their bosses," union co-president Kurt Petersen said in a statement.
An industry bargaining group representing more than 40 hotels accused
the union of political posturing, pursuing the strike as an organizing
tool and failing to negotiate in good faith.
Several thousand workers walked off the job starting Sunday morning at
about a dozen hotels, and the numbers are expected to grow as the strike
wears on, union spokesperson Maria Hernandez said.
Among the hotels targeted the first day, she said, were the
InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Millennium Biltmore and JW Marriott LA
Live in downtown Los Angeles, as well as the Fairmont Miramar in Santa
Monica, the Sheraton Universal in Universal City and Laguna Cliffs
Marriott in Dana Point.
The industry bargaining group said its hotels would remain open with
management and non-union staff filling in for striking workers.
The union reached a contract deal on Friday with the largest of its
employers, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown L.A.,
averting a strike against that property, Hernandez said.
She urged the industry's negotiating coalition, the Coordinated
Bargaining Group, "to follow the lead of the Westin Bonaventure."
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People protest in front of Hotel Indigo
as unionized hotel workers in Los Angeles and Orange County go on
strike, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 2, 2023. REUTERS/David
Swanson
TWO SIDES FAR APART
The bargaining group was negotiating on behalf of 44 unionized
hotels, with the remaining 21 expected to go along with whatever
settlement is reached, according to the Los Angeles City News
Service.
The union said its workers earn $20 to $25 an hour and is demanding
an immediate increase of $5 an hour and an additional $3 an hour in
subsequent years of the contract, plus improved healthcare and
retirement benefits.
Both the union and management said the hotel group has countered by
proposing wage hikes of $2.50 an hour in the first 12 months and
$6.25 over four years for most workers. Wages for housekeepers in
Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles who currently earn $25 an
hour would rise 10% next year and to more than $31 by 2027, under
the industry's offer.
Unite Here also is seeking creation of a hospitality workforce
housing fund, which according to management would be funded with a
new 7% tax on guests staying at unionized hotels.
The union cites survey results showing 53% of hotel workers have
either been forced to move in the past five years or will move in
the near future due to soaring housing costs. Many workers report
having to commute hours from areas where they live far outside the
cities where they work, the union said.
Los Angeles has been a flashpoint for labor strife on several fronts
this year, including the protracted writers strike and a three-day
walkout in March by education support staff for the Los Angeles
Unified School District.
The union representing 22,000 dockworkers at the ports of Los
Angeles, Long Beach and other West Coast terminals reached a
contract deal in June after 13 months of protracted labor talks,
averting a strike that could have disrupted U.S. supply chains.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Gabriella Borter in
New York; Editing by Mary Milliken and Josie Kao)
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