15,000 SoCal Hotel Workers May Strike This Summer

Thousands of unionized workers at some of L.A.'s iconic hotels may go on strike as soon as the July 4th holiday weekend.

Where things stand

Unite Here Local 11, the Los Angeles and Orange County chapter of the National Hotel and Food Service Workers Union represents workers at 62 Southern California hotels that have contracts expiring June 30, including the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills and the Westin Bonaventure downtown.

The strike authorization was passed by union members on Thursday night. The decision impacts 15,000 hotel workers and if it moves forward, would be one of largest hotel worker strikes.

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Hotel employers, including Hyatt, Hilton, Highgate, Accor, IHG, and Marriott have been negotiating with the union since April 20.

What the union wants

The unionized housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, front desk agents, servers and food service workers want an immediate $5 an hour raise with raises totaling $11 over three years. They also want affordable health care and manageable staffing workloads.

The union noted that the hotel industry received billions of dollars in COVID relief funds through the payroll protection program but still cut jobs.

“We're demanding a lot of money,” said union co-president Kurt Petersen.

“We think the hotels need to put it up in order for their workers to be able to live in Los Angeles,” he said.

The strike authorization vote doesn’t necessarily mean a strike will take place.

The role that high housing costs is playing

The soaring cost of housing in Southern California prompted many union workers to vote for the strike.

“Eighty five percent of my income goes to rent because I just moved to L.A. It's really hard to even find a place in L.A. that you can afford on one income,” said Cristina Betancourt, who works as a housekeeper at the Ritz Carlton Downtown.

Cristina Betancourt (L) Yuliana Varillas and Bellen Valle (R) work as housekeepers in downtown L.A. hotels.

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Courtesy of United Here Local 11

)

Betancourt is further squeezed by the unpredictability of her schedule. Some hotels stopped automatically cleaning rooms daily during the pandemic, and transitioned to only cleaning rooms upon request. The move allows hotel managers to cut staffing costs since fewer rooms need cleaning.

“Since I'm new, I'm low in seniority, so that means that for this week I wasn't scheduled and last week I worked only one day,” she said. Betancourt can’t take another job because she doesn’t know how often she’ll be called in to clean.

High housing costs have pushed hotel workers into hours-long commutes, said Bellen Valle who works as a housekeeper at JW Marriott in downtown.

During her six years in the job she’s seen coworkers move out of L.A. County to more affordable housing.

“A lot of coworkers I know moved to San Bernardino and Palmdale because in downtown rent is so expensive,” she said.

Hotel industry's position

As workers threaten to strike over more livable wages, the hotel industry says elected officials should be held accountable for the skyrocketing cost of housing, not them.

“Nobody can afford housing in L.A.,” said Pete Hillan, spokesperson for the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, an industry trade group. “Teachers, nurses, construction workers, and think about city workers. This is a universal issue that really is up to the city leaders to resolve.”

Hillian said hotels often pay “well above what is reported,” but was unable to provide member data on what the average hotel worker earns in L.A., saying wages “varied by hotel.”

“We provide good compensation, good benefits, extraordinary education opportunities, healthcare,” he said.

World Cup and Olympics put hotels in spotlight

L.A. hotels will be in the spotlight in the next few years as the area prepares for the World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028, events that require significant lodging capacity for tens of thousands of visitors.

In the short term, the threat of a strike throughout Los Angeles and Orange County during the tourist season will hurt the local economy, Hillian said, and cause tourists to rethink their travel plans to Southern California.

“I think there's a lot of bad taste already about L.A.'s reputation unfortunately. If you look at the housing issue, if you look at homelessness, conventions that typically would be coming back. When you throw an unnecessary labor strike into the mix, people are going to think twice,” he said.

What's next

The union hopes the yes vote will help revitalize negotiations.

“We are going to fight because if we fight and we’re going to strike, we're going to win,” said housekeeper Bellen Valle. “I believe that.”