2nd wave of SoCal hotel strike ends, but more picketing likely; talks set to resume Tuesday
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Hospitality workers who manned picket lines at a dozen hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties for the past five days returned to work Saturday, marking the end of a second wave of union walkouts conducted in hopes of securing higher wages and benefits.
The second wave of picketing began Monday, targeting a total of 12 hotels, including several in the Westchester area near Los Angeles International Airport. Members of the Unite Here Local 11 union initially walked off the job on July 2, continuing their picketing through the Fourth of July holiday. That picketing targeted 21 hotels involved in contract negotiations with the union.
The workers represented by the union include cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen and front desk agents.
According to a statement Saturday from the union, labor talks with hoteliers are scheduled to resume Tuesday. But the union warned, "More strikes and other actions by hotel workers could take place at any time."
"Thousands of workers at 33 hotels from downtown Los Angeles to LAX to Orange County have participated in the largest hotel worker strike in California history," Kurt Petersen, co-president of United Here Local 11, said in a statement. "Our city has reached a tipping point. The wealthy continue to live in luxury while workers, from actors and writers to room attendants and servers, live from one paycheck to the next. This fight is ultimately about whether those who make LA prosperous and beautiful will be able to afford to live in LA."
The contract between the hotels and the union expired at 12:01 a.m. July 1, although the union previously reached a deal with the largest of its employers, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles.
Contract agreements are unresolved with the remaining hotels.
Hotel officials have said the hotels will remain open with management and other nonunion staff filling in.
Representatives for the Coordinated Bargaining Group representing local hotels have accused the union of being inflexible in its demands.
The union "has not budged from its opening demand two months ago of up to a 40% wage increase and an over 28% increase in benefit costs. From the outset, the union has shown no desire to engage in productive, good faith negotiations with this group," the reps said in a previous statement.
Attorney Keith Grossman of Hirschfeld Kraemer, one of two firms representing the hotel coalition, told the Los Angeles Times that employers have offered raises of $2.50 an hour in the first 12 months and $6.25 over four years. He said housekeepers at unionized hotels in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles, who currently make $25 per hour, would get a 10% wage increase in 2024 and make more than $31 per hour by January 2027.
The workers are on strike "because the union is determined to have one," Grossman said.
Unite Here Local 11 represents up to 15,000 workers employed at about 60 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
On June 8, 96% of the union's members approved a strike authorization. Union officials said a recent survey of its members showed that 53% said they have moved in the past five years or will move in the near future because of soaring housing costs in the Los Angeles area.
Union officials said their members earn $20 to $25 an hour. Negotiators are asking for an immediate $5 an hour raise and an additional $3 an hour in subsequent years of the contract along with improvements in health care and retirement benefits.
The union is also seeking to create a hospitality workforce housing fund. Many union members say they're now commuting hours from areas like Apple Valley, Palmdale, California City and Victorville.
