Labor unrest erupted at two Southland locations Wednesday, Feb. 14 as LAX food and beverage workers launched a three-day strike over wage concerns, and LA Grand Hotel workers also walked off the job, demanding higher wages and increased staffing.
The actions highlight a wave of union activity that has swept Southern California in recent years as employees at restaurants, hotels and healthcare facilities rally for wages allowing them to keep pace with the region’s soaring housing costs.
The LA Grand’s 40 cooks, housekeepers, dishwashers and other hotel workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 earn a minimum wage of $20 to $25 an hour, depending on the job and tenure.
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They’re also seeking increased security as the hotel provides vacant rooms to the homeless through the city’s new Inside Safe program, which is aimed at getting people off the streets and into transitional housing.
Unite Here President Kurt Petersen said additional protection is needed.
“For more than a year, they have been asking the city and the operator to protect hotel workers facing dangerous working conditions inside their workplace and violence on the picket line,” Petersen said in a statement.
Other hotel strikes: Workers at Southern California hotels walk off job as others reach accord
Workers at the hotel previously walked off the job in August, claiming management unfairly disciplined a housekeeper for voicing safety concerns during a staff meeting.
Unite Here-represented workers across Southern California have been involved in the largest hotel strike in U.S. history. The action involving 60 hotels began in July 2023 with 34 reaching tentative labor agreements with the union.
But some, including the LA Grand, have held out. The workers’ contract expired in June 2023.
On Wednesday, LA Grand employees rallied outside city hall with dozens of tents and shirts on clotheslines. Workers said they plan to maintain a continuous presence there.
Also see: Four more hotels reach tentative labor agreements with Unite Here
Ana Pineda, who has been a housekeeper at the LA Grand for 19 years, said staffing at the hotel is inadequate, a situation that has been compounded by Inside Safe program.
“It’s been difficult for us to work with people who have lived on the street,” the 59-year-old East LA resident said. “Most guests are here one or two days, but with the homeless, we’re dealing with people who are here seven days a week. It creates more work.”
Pineda said the situation has taken a toll. “It’s heavy work,” she said.
The LA Grand is owned by Shen Zhen New World LLC, which was convicted of bribery and related charges in May 2023 and fined $4 million for giving benefits – including luxury trips and a sham loan – to bribe then-Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar in a bid to obtain city approval to build a 77-story skyscraper.
The more than 400 food and beverage workers at Los Angeles International Airport are also represented by Unite Here Local 11 and employed by Areas-USA.
Also see: United flight attendants picket at LAX over wages, work conditions
The Miami, Fla.-based company runs 15 food outlets at the airport, including Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Dunkin’ Donuts, Engine 28 and California Pizza Kitchen, among others. Fourteen of the 15 locations are on strike.
Angelica, Lopez, a supervisor at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in the Tom Bradley Terminal, earns $23 an hour but says she struggles to get by. The starting wage for Areas-USA employees is $20.50.
“It’s not enough,” the 33-year-old Los Angeles resident said. “Everything has gotten so expensive — our rent keeps going up, gas keeps going up and groceries keep going up. Areas-USA said if they pay us more, they’ll have to cut our hours.”
In a statement issued Wednesday, Areas-USA spokesman Steve Duchesne said the company continues to negotiate in good faith with Unite Here for a new collective bargaining agreement “that compensates our associates fairly and meets the needs of our concession partners, the airport authority and Areas.”
Ray Lopez, who has been a chef at Engine 28 for 10 years, recently got a raise that boosted his pay to $22 an hour.
“Before that, I was only making $19 an hour,” said Lopez, 56, who lives in Southgate. “We’re also fighting for a pension. We won that in our last contract, but it’s still pending.”
The Areas-USA workers’ contract expired in June 2022 and has been on month-to-month extensions since then. The most recent extension expired in November 2023.
