THE 2023-2024 CONTRACT FIGHT
Since the pandemic, the region’s largest economic engine, the tourism industry, is celebrating record profits while hospitality workers are overworked, fighting to stay housed and alive. In 2023 workers had the opportunity to reclaim the right to live and work in their community.
UNITE HERE Local 11 lined up over 60 contracts to expire this year, with the goal to lift the low standards of service workers, as the city of Los Angeles prepares for the World Cup (2026) and the Olympics (2028). We are ready to welcome millions to the region, and we intend to seize the moment to ensure our place in the economic boom headed our way.
It was nearly a year-long fight, but through the strike we won unprecedented contracts that have changed the lives of thousands of hotel workers.
LA TIMES: Boycott of Beverly Hills hotels gets boost from Hollywood writers
LONG BEACH WATCHDOG: Westin hotel workers to get $11.25 raise under new ‘life-changing’ contract
LA TIMES: With strike behind them, Los Angeles hotels look to move on
CONGRATULATIONS EMBASSY SUITES IRVINE WORKERS
LA TIMES: In deal with union, Hotel Figueroa in downtown L.A. to hire back some restaurant workers
ZÓCALO: How We Won a Historic Contract for Hotel Workers
WINNING THE 2023–2024 HOTEL STRIKE
Since July 1, 2023, workers in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Arizona have gone on strike more than 175 times, making this the nation’s largest hotel worker strike wave in modern history. Hotel-worker wages, like those for all Angelenos, have not kept up with soaring housing costs. The striking workers have demanded that the hotel industry, which is enjoying record post-pandemic profits, cough up major wage increases so that workers can live near where they work.
PRESS RELEASE: UNITE HERE Local 11 Files Cal/OSHA Complaint Alleging Rat, Cockroach and Maggot Sightings at The Westin Long Beach
Hotel workers protest The Westin Long Beach to demand a fair contract, safe working conditions
Long Beach–Hotel workers at the Westin Long Beach concerned for their health and safety have submitted a complaint to Cal/OSHA.
Workers plan to protest outside the Westin Long Beach on Saturday July 20, 2024 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Supporters will wear rat costumes and related props to draw attention to workers’ allegations that they have observed what appeared to be rats in the food storage room of the Hotel’s kitchen and roaches in the Hotel’s banquet kitchen. Workers documented alleged rodent sightings as recently as mid-June of 2024. In July 2023, a worker also documented an alleged sighting of what appeared to be maggots on unwashed dishes in the Hotel’s banquet kitchen.
The Westin Long Beach has been embroiled in a fierce labor dispute with its employees since the union contract expired on June 30, 2024. Westin employees join workers across the Los Angeles area who have fought for and won better wages and working conditions in what has become the largest hotel worker strike in modern history. The workers’ primary contract goals include wage increases to keep pace with the soaring cost of housing in Long Beach, quality and affordable health insurance, a pension to retire with dignity, and humane workloads.
“As hotel workers we strive to provide the best customer service to our guests, and we deserve a safe and healthy working environment. We urge the hotel to take immediate action to ensure that our workplace is safe. They need to listen to us as we fight for what we deserve,” said Wendy Bonilla, one of the complainants and a worker at the Westin Long Beach.
FOUR MORE WINS!
LOCAL 11 STRIKE WINS!
ON STRIKE: Westin Long Beach Hotel Workers On Strike As 4th of July Weekend Continues
One year after the nation’s largest hotel strike began, workers at Westin Long Beach walk out
Long Beach: Room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, front desk agents, servers, and other workers of the Westin Long Beach walked out this morning. The strike at the hotel comes one year after the largest hotel strike wave in modern US history began.
The hotel have yet to sign on to a contract along the lines of those already inked by more than sixty hotels in the region, including the Hotel Maya and DoubleTree San Pedro, and Westin hotels in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona. These contracts ensure that workers earn wages that keep pace with the soaring cost of housing, maintain affordable benefits, and receive reasonable workload assignments.
LONG BEACH WATCHDOG: Westin Long Beach workers may celebrate 4th of July weekend on strike
FIVE MORE WINS
FIVE WINS! AGAIN!
PRESS RELEASE: FIVE MORE! Including Viceroy, Le Méridien Delfina, Hampton Inn, and Courtyard Santa Monica Sign with UNITE HERE Local 11, Raising the Total to 46 Agreements
Hotels operated by Aimbridge Hospitality and the Hotel Figueroa remain focal points of labor dispute
Santa Monica, Calif.: Today, workers at the Hampton Inn Santa Monica, Courtyard Santa Monica, Viceroy Santa Monica, Le Méridien Delfina, and the Sheraton Four Points LAX became the latest hotels to sign the historic accord agreeing to the life-changing wages, benefits and other historic protections.
The five new agreements come on the heels of seven others reached earlier this week, for a total of 46 settled contracts. In the past week, the Proper Santa Monica, Hotel Maya in Long Beach, Hyatt Place Pasadena, Proper Downtown Los Angeles, Westdrift Manhattan Beach, Hotel June West LA, and Alsace Hotel also signed.
Patricia Ibañez, a UNITE HERE Local 11 leader and housekeeper of 17 years at Le Méridien Delfina in Santa Monica said, “I am so proud of my coworkers for sticking together through this fight. It took grit, blood, sweat and tears, but we did it! I am excited to go back to my job after being suspended. The immense support I received from my coworkers and other community members inspired me to never give up. This is going to change my life.”
The new contract has the largest economic increases of any industry-wide contract in the last 30 years.
The contract will expire January 15, 2028, just before the world turns its attention on Los Angeles for the XXXIV Olympiad.
More than 10,000 workers at 52 hotels have struck 170 times so far in the largest strike in the history of the nation’s hospitality industry.
The membership has resolved to continue striking and boycotting until all hotels, including the Hotel Figueroa, all of the boycotted Aimbridge properties like the Doubletree Downtown Los Angeles that have not yet signed, and the LA Grand, the site of the city-operated Inside Safe Program.
CONGRATULATIONS MAYA WORKERS!
BERNIE SANDERS AT HOTEL FIGUEROA
“All you are asking for is justice, you work hard and want fair compensation. I just want to tell you that you are part of a growing movement in this country. So the message of today is that we are sick and tired of the greed of corporate America, workers deserve a decent life, and this union deserves a decent contract.” Senator Bernie Sanders
TWO MORE WINS!
7 New Hotels, Including Hotel Maya Long Beach, Sign with UNITE HERE Local 11, Raising the Total to 41 Agreements
Recalcitrant Aimbridge Hospitality, Hotel Figueroa remain focal points of bitter labor dispute
Los Angeles: Following the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Hotel Maya Long Beach has signed a tentative contract agreement. In the past week, the Hyatt Place Pasadena, Proper Santa Monica, Proper Downtown Los Angeles, Westdrift Manhattan Beach, Hotel June West LA, and Alsace Hotel also signed the historic accord.
The seven new agreements come at the heels of overwhelming ratification votes at 35 hotels, for a total of 41 settled contracts.
More than 10,000 workers at 52 hotels have struck 170 times so far in the largest strike in the history of the nation’s hospitality industry. Workers at five hotels struck last week and several more are set to go out this week.
The new contract has the largest economic increases of any industry-wide contract in the last 30 years.
$5.00 an hour raise in the first year; workers will have $10,400 more to pay for rent, to feed their families
40 to 50% wage increases for non tipped workers over the 4.5 year term of the agreement
Most room attendants will earn $35.00 an hour by July 1, 2027
Guaranteed pre-pandemic staffing levels and mandatory daily room cleaning
One of the highest paid pension plans for service workers in nation
50 pages of improvements, including Juneteenth as a paid holiday, unprecedented language for the fair treatment of workers impacted by the criminal justice system and protections of immigrant rights.
The contract will expire January 15, 2028, just before the world turns its attention on Los Angeles for the XXXIV Olympiad.
The membership has resolved to continue striking and boycotting until all hotels, including the Hotel Figueroa, all of the boycotted Aimbridge properties like the Doubletree Downtown Los Angeles, and the LA Grand, the site of the city-operated Inside Safe Program.
“My coworkers and I dealt with unthinkable violence to get to this point. We are proud that we never gave up, and we look forward to having the same standard raising benefits and protections other hotel workers now enjoy.” said Camila Delgado, Housekeeper at Hotel Maya.
“The workers at the Maya and the newly settled hotels are heroes. Despite living precariously close to being unhoused, they struck over and over without pay to win a living wage,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “They have not only won a life changing agreement – an unprecedented $5.00 an hour in the 1st year – but they have given hope to all working people that when you fight, you win. It is time for the greedy few who remain – including Hotel Figueroa and private equity titans Blackstone and Aimbridge – to sign a fair contract.”
“Congratulations to members of UNITE HERE Local 11 and Hotel Maya Long Beach on reaching a historic contract agreement that ensures hospitality workers will have the dignity of living wages and industry-leading benefits to support their families,” said Mayor Rex Richardson, “Over the next four years, as we prepare for the 2028 Olympics and welcome visitors from around the world to our vibrant Long Beach community, we can be proud that our local tourism economy continues to thrive, while placing value on the workforce that keeps our hospitality industry running.”
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UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona that work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports
GRAND PRIX STRIKE ALERT: Hotel Maya Workers Vow to Walk Out if No Deal Reached During Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
PRESS CONTACT: Maria Hernandez | 623-340–8047
Long Beach: Hotel Maya workers are prepared to strike during the biggest event in Long Beach, the Acura Grand Prix, if the hotel does not reach an agreement.
“My family and I share a small apartment with two other families because we cannot afford anything else. That is why I am out here peacefully taking action, to secure a better future. We are ready to strike during the Grand Prix if we do not get a contract.” said Camila, housekeeper at Hotel Maya.
The workers’ primary contract goals include wage increases to keep pace with the soaring cost of housing in Los Angeles, quality and affordable health insurance, a pension to retire with dignity, and humane workloads. Workers are demanding that Ensemble Investment and its operated properties, including Hyatt Place Pasadena, sign the standard-setting agreement, which 35 other hotels across the region have agreed to.
Workers there have been met with violence and various labor issues since they have been fighting for a contract. UNITE HERE Local 11 has raised concerns with Ensemble after a disturbing incident on December 13 outside of the hotel. According to workers, a housekeeper was participating in a peaceful picket line at the Maya Hotel with a sign and a megaphone when a man, since identified as an investor in the hotel, approached her. According to these allegations, the man grabbed and tried to yank the megaphone out of the housekeeper’s hand while yelling at her.
The hotel workers’ union has filed federal labor charges about the incident, as well as a charge alleging the company failed to provide video footage and access to the guest registry in order to investigate.
This is not the first incidence of violence at the hotel. As is alleged in the letter, during another incident on August 5, Maya hotel security and guests attempted to use a chain link fence to forcibly relocate a group of striking workers while they peacefully picketed on a sidewalk, while a guest came around the fence and punched a worker in the head. The worker experienced injuries and medical expenses as a result. The attack was captured on video which has been circulated widely and reported in the press.
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UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona that work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports