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Thousands Of Hotel Workers Voted To Ratify New Contracts, Ending Months of Strikes For Some
Hotel workers and Unite here Local 11 representatives gather outside the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to announce their contract ratification.
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Libby Rainey
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LAist
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Topline:
Workers at 34 Southern California hotels have voted to ratify new contracts after months of on and off strikes. The housekeepers, front desk workers, cooks and other workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 won a $5-an-hour raise this year.
Unite Here Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen told reporters Monday"That means that workers will have this year $10,000 in their pockets. $10,000 — almost $900 a month to pay their rent, to breathe easier at night, to live."
Their new contracts expire just before the 2028 Olympics.
Why it matters: The union says wages will go up an average of 40 to 50 percent over the next four years. One major focus of the strikes was workers being able to afford living in Los Angeles.
Brenda Mendoza, a longtime employee at the JW Marriott in Downtown LA, says low wages priced her out of her hometown of Koreatown and she now has a three hour commute to Apple Valley.
"The low wage forced me out of Los Angeles, but this doesn't have to keep happening to others," she said.
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The backstory: Hotel workers started striking last summer over pay, affordable health care, manageable staffing workloads and other issues. The union says in the past nine months, employees at more than 50 hotels have walked the picket lines.
Hotel response: In a statement, a spokesperson for the California Hotel and Lodging Association said the contract ratification votes were "are a long time coming" and the hotels were glad that employees "can enjoy the benefits of new contracts, including increased compensation."
What now: Over two dozen hotels still don't have contracts with their unionized employees. Unite Here Local 11 says it will continue to picket and strike when necessary to win contracts.
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