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Labor Protestors are Back at the Andaz Hotel in WeHo
At the July Protest | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
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At the July Protest | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
Remember when 63 workers were arrested for blocking traffic on Sunset Boulevard back in July? Well, the group came back this morning. About 100 began protesting at 4 a.m., but deputies reported no problems or arrests, according to West Hollywood Patch on Twitter. Today's action is a part of a multi-city strike representing "a major escalation in a labor dispute," United Local Here 11 says. That dispute is over job, health and hour cuts leading to understaffing and an increase in injury rates. Right now they are working with an expired contract and calling a current proposed one from Hyatt a "recession contract" despite, what they call, an economic recovery in the hotel industry.
Hyatt says their workers average $8 to $9 an hour for tipped positions and $15.50 for non-tipped ones and receive a slew of other benefits such as no-cost pensions and no-cost healthcare for full-time employees and free meals.
"It is time for Local 11 leadership to stop putting their own agenda above the economic interests of our associates. Since our contract expired, union leadership has chosen to delay negotiations instead of working towards the fair contract our associates expect and deserve," Hyatt said in a statement. "The union’s primary interest is not a fair contract for its members in Los Angeles, but rather, growing its national membership base by instituting card check neutrality at Hyatt hotels in other U.S. cities. Hyatt opposes card check and supports our employees’ right to choose union representation in a democratic, secret-ballot process supervised by the appropriate government representatives."
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