More SoCal hotel workers agree to new deal with Marriott, Hilton

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Workers at 10 hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties have signed tentative agreements to end a long contract dispute that led to rotating work stoppages this year, union officials said Saturday.

More than 1,700 housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers and front desk workers signed the deal, according to Unite Here Local 11, which said 20 high-end Southland hotels have now signed new contract agreements.

Those employees work at the Irvine Marriott, W Hotel Westwood, SLS Beverly Hills, Westin LAX, Sheraton Grand DTLA, JW Marriott LA Live, Ritz-Carlton LA Live, Courtyard Marriott DTLA, Residence Inn DTLA and Hilton Irvine.

Officials with Unite Here Local 11 said the W Hollywood is the lone Marriott not included because of outstanding contract issues there.

"We are pleased to have reached a new labor agreement for our valued associates in Los Angeles and Irvine,'' Marriott International's Lucy Slosser said in a statement provided to City News Service on Saturday. "We urge the union to sign this same agreement for our W Hollywood associates.''

The union said the tentative deal includes the following provisions:

-- Unprecedented wage increases that keep pace with the soaring cost of housing;

-- Affordable, excellent family health care;

-- Humane workloads and safe staffing;

-- Improved pension increases;

-- Language improvements, including historic Equal Justice language that, among other things, will help to provide access to union jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals and unprecedented protections for immigrant workers.

The union singled out Aimbridge Hospitality for allegedly "refusing to meet the new hotel contract standard,'' adding that workers at the Aimbridge-operated Sheraton Park Anaheim walked off the job Wednesday, and several others could follow as early as this weekend.''

"If the world's largest hotel companies, Marriott and Hilton, agreed to raise the standard for hotel workers, what makes other hoteliers such as ... Aimbridge Hospitality think their workers will accept anything less?'' Unite Here Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen said. "Our members are more determined today to win a living wage than the first day of this historic strike. Nothing will stop them.''

A spokesperson for Aimbridge Hospitality told CNS that the company remains "focused on reaching an agreement with the union that puts our associates' best interests at the center.''

An attempt to reach a representative for the Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents local hotels, was not immediately successful.

Rotating work stoppages began in early July, with thousands of employees and supporters marching through downtown Los Angeles in late October.

Hotel officials said the hotels remained open, with management and other nonunion staff filling in.

Members of the Unite Here initially walked off the job on July 2. That first wave of picketing targeted 21 hotels involved in contract negotiations with the union. The second wave began July 10, targeting a total of 12 hotels.

The union has reached deals with some hotels, however, including the Millennium Biltmore, the Westin Bonaventure, the Loews Hollywood Hotel and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point.

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