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SoCal Hotel Strike Reaches Its Second Wave
About 150 hotel workers marched around in a loop in front of InterContinental Hotels downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, July 2.
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Aaricka Washington
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LAist
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Topline:
Thousands of unionized hotel workers walked off the job today, marking a second wave of strikes.
Why now: Monday's walkouts are affecting eight hotels near LAX. Kurt Petersen, co-president of their union, Unite Here Local 11, says, "We decided that we would be strategic in how we struck. Fourth of July weekend we decided the busiest areas were downtown because of the anime convention. The Fourth of July holiday Santa Monica was booming and so now we're rolling into another area that has an uptick in business where our members are ready."
Are you here in LA on holiday? Better not be at the Holiday Inn LAX because those workers are ON STRIKE. #SoCalHotelStrike pic.twitter.com/7XVmoPjUBl
— UNITE HERE Local 11 (@UNITEHERE11) July 10, 2023
This comes after the hotel workers took a pause last week to go back to work.
Why it matters: Unite Here Local 11 represents 32,000 hotel workers, including cooks, housekeepers and dishwashers. Unionized workers from 60 area hotels are demanding an immediate $5 an hour raise with raises totaling $11 in 3 years. Other requests include a hospitality workforce housing fund, affordable health care and manageable staffing workloads.
The backstory: Their contract expired June 30 and negotiations between hotel employers and the union have been going on since April.
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Go deeper: LA's rent crisis pushes workers to the picket line.
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