Southern California hotel workers head for a strike vote
A union is asking 15,000 workers at hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties to authorize a strike during the height of tourist season.
Unite Here Local 11 said contracts are expiring June 30 at 62 Southern California hotels, including luxury stays such as the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles, the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica and the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.
Union officials say they are asking for the strike authorization vote on June 8 to jump-start sluggish negotiations and convince hotel operators to seriously consider pay increases for their workers.
As Los Angeles gears up for a busy summer travel season — plus future tourist events including the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics — and hotel company profits rise, it’s crucial to ensure workers are fairly compensated and can afford housing, said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11.
Petersen said the union has plans to ramp up pressure on a number of other tourism companies — other hotels as well as food operators at airports, stadiums and resorts whose contracts are also set to expire June 30. He said in total more than 20,000 Southern California tourism workers covered by roughly 100 contracts will be involved in actions this summer.
The union represents non-management hotel employees, including front desk clerks, housekeepers and hotel restaurant workers. Marriott International and Hilton Hotels & Resorts are among the major employers in talks with Unite Here Local 11.
Faced with the union’s proposals at the first bargaining session on
April 20 — including an immediate across-the-board $5 hourly raise — hotels have largely “gone silent,” Petersen said. The union laid out other proposals related to healthcare, pensions and a policy against using E-verify, a federal system used to check work eligibility, to protect immigrant workers, he said.
“They haven’t provided a single counter proposal. They haven’t put a single penny on the table,”
Petersen said.
Hotel companies did not attend a second scheduled bargaining session. Lawyers representing a newly formed coalition of about a dozen hotels showed up to a third session on Friday, Petersen said.
Michael D’angelo, a vice president of labor relations at Hyatt, said the company is disappointed the union is considering a strike.
“Hyatt has just commenced negotiations along with other Los Angeles and Orange County hotels and is committed to bargaining in good faith,” D’angelo said in a statement.