HOW LOW CAN THEY GO?
The hotel CEOs make more than $10,000 an hour but they can’t pay you a living wage? How low can they go? Watch as we march through Santa Monica. Strike! Boycott! Win!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LA City Council Moves Forward on Historic Ordinance to Prioritize Housing Over Luxury Hotel Development
Los Angeles – LA City Council moved forward this morning on a revised version of the Responsible Hotel Initiative. Previously proposed by President Paul Krekorian on November 1, this ordinance will codify the core goals of the original initiative put forward by Unite Here: protecting the housing stock in Los Angeles.
- Ensure that developers fully replace any housing lost to hotel development.
- Codify components of Inside Safe, a program to provide temporary housing to unhoused individuals and families.
- Give residents a say in hotel development in their communities, ensuring that the city considers a proposed development’s impact on issues like jobs and housing.
- Address problems like short-term rental “party houses” and trafficking at hotels through permitting requirements and enforcement.
“We have said all along that our contract campaign has been about two things: housing for our members where they work and a living wage,” said Co-President Kurt Petersen of UNITE HERE Local 11. “With this ordinance, we have done more to protect housing than any single contract demand would have done. The fight for a living wage continues.”
Los Angeles is experiencing a dramatic increase in hotel development, ranking second in the nation in the number of new hotel rooms in its pipeline, with more than 100 hotels under construction or in planning stages. Among other pro-housing provisions, the law would require developers of new hotels that displace housing to replace that housing on a one-for-one basis.
“The only way I could afford a home was to move two hours away from Los Angeles,” said Miguel Aragon, who works as a room attendant at Hotel Indigo. “This ordinance would enable workers like myself to spend time with our families, instead of spending hours of our day spent driving to and from work. I’m proud of the City Council for moving forward with this proposal.”
UNITE HERE Local 11 has until December 1 to withdraw the original language of the ordinance. The new ordinance would come before Council for a vote in early December.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Nearly 200 people, including workers, union leaders, elected politicians, and community allies, engaged in an act of mass nonviolent civil disobedience, following an overwhelming strike authorization vote June on 8. Hundreds more room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, and community allies took to the streets to call for the wages required to afford housing in Los Angeles.
EYEWITNESS NEWS ABC 7
Nearly 200 workers and multiple elected officials were arrested in Los Angeles yesterday.
They were demonstrating for livable wages with @UNITEHERE11.
Arrested council member Hugo Soto-Martinez said "People who work in LA should be able to live in LA" pic.twitter.com/pJjvfvVaxD
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) June 23, 2023
More Perfect Union – Brenda Mendoza Profile
NEW: 15,000 hotel workers in LA are gearing up for the largest hotel strike in modern US history.
LA’s hotel industry is raking in more profits than before the pandemic but refuses to offer workers even a penny more, and many can't pay rent.
Workers are ready to shut LA down. pic.twitter.com/hXFYLYK1C4
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) June 14, 2023
VOTE YES FOR THE STRIKE
On June 8, 2023 thousands of Local 11 members will vote to authorize a strike for better wages, affordable housing, a better pension, healthcare, and fair workloads. Sí se puede!