UNITE HERE Local 11 Housekeepers Submit 100k Signatures on Groundbreaking Initiative to City of Los Angeles

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.”

Over one hundred thousand Angelenos have signed on to the measure that provides:

  • 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.”

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

“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.

Women have been hit hardest by COVID’s economic toll

WeHo’s Laid-Off Hospitality Workers Urge City Council To Pass Historic Hotel Worker Protection Policy

WeHo’s Laid-Off Hospitality Workers Urge City Council To Pass Historic Hotel Worker Protection Policy

“Recovery Means Everyone”: A Just WeHo Economy Post Pandemic Must Include Hotel Workers

West Hollywood, CA: Dozens of laid off hospitality workers, West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath, Councilmember Sepi Shyne, Hollywood National Organization for Women, National Women’s Political Caucus of California held a press conference today to urge WeHo city council to pass a historic hotel worker protection policy.

“I immigrated to this country leaving my kids behind in Guatemala in search of a better life to provide for them and have worked hard to build a life for us. It is workers like me who dedicated their lives to building the hospitality industry in West Hollywood,” said Sandra Pellecer who worked at the Standard as a cook for 16 years.

The policy is aimed at ensuring workers in the hotel industry, many of whom have dedicated decades of service to the industry, have jobs to return to as the economy reopens. The policy will also contain measures to address other problems that existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the risk of sexual assault or other threatening conduct for workers who work alone in guest rooms, inadequate compensation for heavy workloads, and the lack of comprehensive, standardized training.

“As a member of the LGBTQ community, I know West Hollywood prides itself in being a city of inclusion and equality. I hope the council leads with these values today and stands with hospitality workers like myself who help this city thrive,” said Jesus Ortiz who worked at the Standard as a cook for 4 years.

Similar worker recall and retention ordinances have been passed in many cities across the region, including Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, Glendale, and Los Angeles County. In 2019, the city of Santa Monica passed a historic Housekeeper Bill of Rights with similar panic button, workload compensation, training, and worker retention measures. Santa Monica also passed a right of recall in the wake of 9/11. Encouraged by the Governor’s signature on SB93, West Hollywood is poised to consider even stronger legislation.

“As a housekeeper having protections from the risk of sexual assault, like panic buttons, would make me feel safer since I often have to work alone in isolated areas of the hotel,” said Norma Hernandez who worked at the Mondrial for 13 years as a housekeeper.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, more than 90% of hotel workers were laid off, most left without healthcare or job security, and many after decades in the industry. Workers in the hotel industry are overwhelmingly immigrants and women of color, some of the hardest hit amid the pandemic.

“Recovery must include everyone. A just economy demands that we do better than simply going back to what existed before COVID-19. The City of West Hollywood has an unmatched record of advancing human rights. I am delighted to work with Councilmember Shyne on this policy, which is one more example of our commitment to dignity and respect for all people,” said Mayor Lindsey Horvath.

The policy would ensure that hotel workers are a part of West Hollywood’s just economic recovery.

“The City of West Hollywood is actively working to close the gap of social, racial and workplace inequality. I am proud to work with Mayor Horvath to bring forward this item which will provide basic workforce protections for hotel workers who are often cleaning more rooms per day than the industry standard, putting their personal safety on the line when they enter rooms without any protective equipment such as panic buttons, allowing workers to return to and retain the jobs they love with dignity and requiring safe reporting and training. The free market has not provided these overdue protections for workers, which is why we must intercede,” said West Hollywood City Councilmember Sepi Shyne.