/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112023-01-24 16:15:342023-01-27 14:55:59Hotel workers to rally for higher pay, better working conditions
Wage needed to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. See also the Los Angeles Hotel Worker Minimum Wage chart.
Hotels rooms under construction per “Hospitality Market Report – Los Angeles” prepared by Elyse Kirby for STR, accessed January 4, 2023 [login required]. See also affordable housing units approved by the City of Los Angeles.
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112023-01-22 15:57:242023-01-27 14:54:38Rent’s Too High?
Initiative would follow lead of neighboring cities to mandate panic buttons and raise minimum wage for hotel workers
Los Angeles – Over one hundred housekeepers and other hospitality workers today turned in the petitions they have collected since late January to qualify their initiative for the November 2022 ballot. The initiative mirrors protections they have secured in Long Beach, Santa Monica and most recently West Hollywood.
“I am one of thousands of housekeepers in Los Angeles who will finally have panic buttons and other protections on the job”, said Martha Moran, a laid off housekeeper from the storied Chateau Marmont. “My coworkers and I deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and to receive fair compensation for the work we do. This initiative provides those things.”
Panic buttons and other security measures to protect hotel housekeepers from sexual assault and threatening conduct
Fair compensation for heavy workloads
Automatic daily room cleaning throughout the industry
Expansion of minimum wage law for hotel workers “My heart is always with the workers, like my mother, who worked her fingers to the bone,” said Councilman Kevin De Leon. “The hard-working immigrant women and men who make up the hospitality industry in our city are the backbone of our economy and I’m proud to stand with them today as they submit their historic initiative petition. I’m ready to work with my colleagues on the L.A. City Council to transform this initiative into law. The people have spoken, and it’s our job to listen.”
“Even though I don’t work at a hotel, I understand that raising the standards for some of the lowest paid workers in the hospitality industry will bring up standards for all of us,” said Isha Kallay, food server from the Hollywood Park and Casino. “I wanted to collect signatures for this initiative because we need to stick together in order for all of us to get ahead.”
The housekeeping measure comes in response to the hotel industry’s attempt to cut labor costs and increase workloads by eliminating daily room cleaning during the pandemic. It also provides vital protections against sexual assault for housekeepers when cleaning guest rooms alone. The workers call on the Los Angeles City Council to outright adopt the law.
“The hotel industry has wanted to get rid of daily room cleaning for years, and the pandemic gave them the perfect excuse,” notes Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “Angelenos have just shown the industry, led by the Chateau Marmont, that they see through the greedy pandemic profiteering tactics and stand with the housekeepers. I am hopeful that the Los Angeles City Council will do the same and outright adopt the ordinance. Los Angeles is a leading tourist destination; that should mean good jobs for Angelenos.”
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112022-05-02 16:18:332022-05-11 11:45:00UNITE HERE Local 11 Housekeepers Submit 100k Signatures on Groundbreaking Initiative to City of Los Angeles
Cristina Velasquez, a housekeeper at Hilton Garden Inn in Los Angeles, says that since the pandemic started, she has had to clean three to four days’ worth of trash, dirty linens and towels in the same amount of time as before. Click here to listen to the LA TImes Podcast.
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112022-03-05 10:23:342022-03-18 10:29:59LA Times Podcast: Hotel housekeeping is dirtier than ever
“Hats off to Stockdale Capital for being a responsible employer and for embracing Santa Monica’s values of community and justice. Thank you to the heroes of this struggle: the courageous room attendants who never lost faith, fought every day against a nefarious Columbia Sussex, and won an extraordinary union agreement,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of the union.
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112022-01-10 11:35:322022-01-10 11:37:44JW Marriot Santa Monica to Pay Housekeepers $25 an Hour Following Agreement With Labor Union
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112022-01-06 22:31:362022-06-01 13:30:42How the pandemic made hotel housekeeping more difficult — and disgusting
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112021-05-07 16:20:052022-06-01 13:55:34Women have been hit hardest by COVID’s economic toll
/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpg00UNITE HERE Local 11/wp-content/uploads/newlogo_512.jpgUNITE HERE Local 112021-05-03 16:51:462021-05-07 16:53:44Industry-Favored Hotel Mr. C Vetoes Panic Buttons for Employees
Hotel workers to rally for higher pay, better working conditions
Rent’s Too High?
Hotels rooms under construction per “Hospitality Market Report – Los Angeles” prepared by Elyse Kirby for STR, accessed January 4, 2023 [login required]. See also affordable housing units approved by the City of Los Angeles.
UNITE HERE Local 11 Housekeepers Submit 100k Signatures on Groundbreaking Initiative to City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles – Over one hundred housekeepers and other hospitality workers today turned in the petitions they have collected since late January to qualify their initiative for the November 2022 ballot. The initiative mirrors protections they have secured in Long Beach, Santa Monica and most recently West Hollywood.
Watch the entire press conference here
View more photos here
LA Times Podcast: Hotel housekeeping is dirtier than ever
Cristina Velasquez, a housekeeper at Hilton Garden Inn in Los Angeles, says that since the pandemic started, she has had to clean three to four days’ worth of trash, dirty linens and towels in the same amount of time as before. Click here to listen to the LA TImes Podcast.
JW Marriot Santa Monica to Pay Housekeepers $25 an Hour Following Agreement With Labor Union
How the pandemic made hotel housekeeping more difficult — and disgusting
Women have been hit hardest by COVID’s economic toll
Industry-Favored Hotel Mr. C Vetoes Panic Buttons for Employees