MELISSA AND ROSA
The 3rd wave of the nation’s largest hotel strike expands to Beverly Hills as more than 1,000 more cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen, and front desk agents at multiple properties walked out this morning.
Beverly Hills Hotel Workers Strike, 3rd Wave Grows
Beverly Hills, CA: The 3rd wave of the nation’s largest hotel strike expands to Beverly Hills as more than 1,000 more cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen, and front desk agents at multiple properties walked out this morning.
Jovani Ramirez, a cook who works at both the Beverly Hilton and Fairmont Century Plaza and commutes from Santa Clarita said, “I am going on strike because I work two full time jobs to provide for my 4 children. I need free family healthcare because my youngest son is autistic. It is morally wrong that I work 16 hours a day in our most prosperous industry but cannot afford to live in Los Angeles.”
“A room attendant at the Waldorf Astoria must work 60 hours to earn enough to pay for one night at this ritzy hotel,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local. 11. “Yet the hotel’s last offer did not add one more penny for wages. Hilton could care less about whether their workers are able to afford to live in Los Angeles.”
Thousands of workers at 43 hotels have struck so far. But only the Westin Bonaventure has reached a tentative agreement that includes a living wage that will enable workers to afford to live in the city where they work.
Last week, the hotel industry led by Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott, presented a new economic proposal that did not have one penny more for wages, pension or healthcare.
The ongoing labor unrest has caused groups such as the Democratic Governors Association, Japanese American Citizens League, W.K Kellogg Foundation and Vanderpump Rules to cancel their events.
The union’s bargaining committee sent a letter to the American Political Science Association requesting that the 6000 person organization cancel its Annual Meeting & Exhibition, which is set to take place on August 31 to September 3, 2022 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Third Wave of SoCal Hotel Strikes Hit Hollywood After Industry Proposes Not One Penny More
Southern California: After the hotel industry led by Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott, presented a new economic proposal that did not have one penny more for wages, pension or healthcare, thousands of cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen, and front desk agents at multiple properties walked out this morning as part of the largest multi-hotel strike in California history.
This is the third in a wave of strikes in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. So far, of the 60 properties with nearly 15,000 hotel workers whose contracts expired at the end of June, only the Westin Bonaventure has reached an agreement with UNITE HERE Local 11 that includes a living wage that will allow workers to afford to live in the city where they work.
The ongoing labor unrest has caused groups such as the Democratic Governors Association, Japanese American Citizens League, W.K Kellogg Foundation and Vanderpump Rules to cancel or move their events.
Yesterday, the bargaining committee sent a letter to the American Political Science Association requesting that the organization cancel its Annual Meeting & Exhibition, which is set to take place on August 31 to September 3, 2022 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More than 6,000 political science professors are expected to attend this citywide conference.
Morena Hernandez, housekeeper at the Hyatt Andaz said, “I have given decades of my life to this hotel and they have done nothing but take advantage of us. If they really valued our work, they would pay us what we needed to be able to live near where we work. Instead they insult us with their proposals.”
Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11 said, “Just when you thought it was not possible, the hotels hit a new low in greed and cruelty. Their last proposal would make Ebenezer Scrooge envious and would result in a wave of evictions for hotel workers. Not a penny more for wages, pension or healthcare. Workers cannot afford to pay rent; meanwhile, a room at the Waldorf Astoria clocks in at $1400. Their greed has forced workers to walk out again to win a wage that allows them to live in LA.”
THE SECOND WAVE OF STRIKES
“Thousands of workers at 33 hotels from Downtown Los Angeles to LAX to Orange County have participated in the largest hotel worker strike in California history,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President UNITE HERE Local 11. “Our city has reached a tipping point. The wealthy continue to live in luxury while workers, from actors and writers to room attendants and servers, live from one paycheck to the next. This fight is ultimately about whether those who make LA prosperous and beautiful will be able to afford to live in LA.”
