Southern California’s massive hotel strike reignited Sunday, Dec. 17 as hundreds of workers from Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Pasadena walked off the job for higher wages and better working conditions.
The walkout continued Monday at the Pasadena Hilton, Courtyard Santa Monica, Doubletree Los Angeles, Doubletree San Pedro, Hampton Inn Santa Monica and Holiday Inn LAX.
Also see: Four more hotels reach tentative labor agreements with Unite Here
Union officials say the workers plan to stay out until a labor agreement is reached.
They are demanding that employer Aimbridge Hospitality and private equity owner Advent International agree to the tentative agreement other hotels have forged with Unite Here Local 11, which represents the hospitality employees.
The action comes amid a protracted strike that began over the July 4th weekend involving 15,000 workers from 60 Southland hotels.
The latest walkout comes after 10 additional hotels reached tentative settlements with the union, bringing the total to 20.
The latest to reach middle ground with the union include the Irvine Marriott, W Hotel Westwood, SLS Beverly Hills, Westin LAX, Sheraton Grand Los Angeles, JW Marriott LA Live, Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles, Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles, Residence Inn by Marriott Los Angeles and Hilton Irvine.
“If the world’s largest hotel companies, Marriott and Hilton, agreed to raise the standard for hotel workers, what makes other hoteliers such as the Maya in Long Beach or Aimbridge Hospitality think their workers will accept anything less?” Unite Here co-President Kurt Petersen said in a statement.
Petersen said union members are more determined that ever to win a “living wage.”
“Nothing will stop them,” he said.
A spokesman with Coordinated Bargaining Group, which is representing the hotels in labor negotiations with Unite Here, could not be reached for comment.
Unite Here is demanding a $5-an-hour pay hike for all hotel employees. The union is also calling for “humane” workloads, affordable healthcare and pension increases, as well as access to union jobs for formerly incarcerated jobseekers and protections for immigrant workers.
Albert Tostado, a banquet supervisor at the Pasadena Hilton, said Pasadena police took away the bullhorns picketing employees were using to get their message out.
“They said we were violating a city ordinance,” the 59-year-old Monrovia resident said. “But this is our civil right to stick up for ourselves.”
Pasadena police spokeswoman Monica Cuellar said residents complained that the bullhorns were too loud.
“We measured the ambient noise level and it was too loud,” she said. “Three people were cited.”
Patricia Martinez, who has been a housekeeper at the Doubletree in Los Angeles for 30 years, earns $25.17 an hour and hopes to see that boosted to $30. She feels she’s worth that wage in light of the work she performs every day.
“I’m overburdened,” the 60-year-old La Puente resident said. She says she cleans 15 rooms a day, a burden that is magnified if there’s a big group in one room.
Southern California has emerged as ground zero for union activity in recent years, with picketing and strikes at hospitals, fast-food locations, Starbucks and hotels throughout the region.
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Southland economist Robert Kleinhez ties the movement to a few factors.
“The distribution of income in the U.S. has tilted in favor of higher income workers and households,” he said. “That’s been going on for decades.”
Kleinhenz said lower-income workers are especially hampered by high housing costs.
“The cost of living in Southern California is among the highest in the country due to restrictions on housing density and production,” he said. “We’ve legislated laws that essentially guarantee a high cost of living, and now they’re trying to raise wages for hotel workers.”
