Thousands of hotel workers in Southern California are on strike ahead of the July 4 holiday, asking for better wages and benefits.
The union, UNITE HERE Local 11, said Sunday that striking room attendants, bellmen, front desk agents and other hotel workers held demonstrations in the downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica areas. It described Sunday’s move as the “largest multi-hotel strike” in the group’s history.
The group said Monday that workers from the L.A. Grand Hotel Downtown joined the strike.
The hotel workers represented by the union want “better wages, healthcare benefits, pensions and safe workloads” and a hospitality workforce housing fund, according to the union. One change they have asked for is an “immediate” $5 hourly pay hike, something the union has said would go toward alleviating pain caused by housing costs.
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Photos posted on social media by UNITE HERE Local 11 showed people carrying signs with the words “on strike” and donning matching red shirts. They appeared to demonstrate in front of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, DoubleTree Los Angeles, Courtyard Marriott Santa Monica and some other hotels, according to the tweets.
“Our members were devastated first by the pandemic, and now by the greed of their bosses,” UNITE Here Local 11 co-President Kurt Petersen said in a statement. “The industry got bailouts while we got cuts. Now, the hotel negotiators decided to take a four-day holiday instead of negotiating.”
Keith Grossman, the lead spokesperson for the Coordinated Bargaining Group of over 44 hotels in Southern California, said the strike was “expected.”
“We are fully prepared to continue to operate these hotels and to take care of our guests as long as this disruption lasts,” Grossman said in a statement. “We also remain available to meet with the Union whenever its leaders decide to make themselves available to resume negotiations.”
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The group of hotels said in a statement that its offer included upping hourly pay by $2.50 in the first year and continuing to offer family health care and pension contributions. For hourly pay, it has also put forward a $6.25 increase over four years.
The expiration date for the contract was over the weekend. The Coordinated Bargaining Group claimed the union wouldn’t put more bargaining sessions on the books ahead of that date after calling off one recently, accusing it of “choosing political and PR stunts and strike preparation over good faith negotiations.”
The union said just a few days before Sunday’s strike that it and Westin Bonaventure, a hotel located in downtown Los Angeles, had agreed to a contract. That hotel has 600 unionized workers.
The long weekend that the strike fell on is expected to see heavy travel for July 4 celebrations across the U.S. Last week, AAA predicted that 50.7 million people will travel at least 50 miles, either by car or plane, in the June 30 to July 4 timeframe.
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Los Angeles, a popular destination for tourists, hosted 46.2 million visitors over the course of last year, according to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. Hotels in the city sold nearly 30 million room nights in 2022, a figure that the organization projected will climb to 31 million this year.