A group of two dozen Hotel Figueroa workers in black work uniforms pose emotionally in a tiled dining area.

Hotel Figueroa Reaches Agreement with UNITE HERE Local 11, Will Rehire Fired Food and Beverage Workers

Workers to Picket at Holdouts Cameo Beverly Hills, Hilton Garden Inn El Segundo and Glendale Hilton

Los Angeles:  After a year of striking and picketing, workers at Hotel Figueroa have won a life-changing contract. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, when food and beverage employees at the hotel’s subcontracted restaurant sought to unionize, the hotel’s food and beverage subcontractor shut down operations and terminated the workers. Under the historic new agreement, the hotel will assume operations of Café Fig and Bar Magnolia and rehire the fired employees.

“It was a long hard fight, but my coworkers and I stuck together. With the support of community and faith leaders we were able to keep going and in the end we got everything we needed,” said Nohelia Rodriguez, a Hotel Figueroa housekeeper for three years. “This new contract is going to change my life and the lives of so many families.”

Workers at unsettled hotels like the Glendale Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn El Segundo, and Cameo Beverly Hills will continue to picket. Also, in the last month as the country’s largest hotel strike approached the one-year mark, more than 1,500 workers at 11 hotels overwhelmingly ratified new contracts.

Hotel workers at 68 hotels have now achieved a standard that is transforming hotel jobs into middle class professional positions. Improvements include:

  • $5.00-an-hour raise in the first year of the contract

  • 40% to 50% wage increases for non-tipped workers over the 4.5 year term of the agreement

  • 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 nation’s highest pensions for service workers

  • 50 pages of improvements, including Juneteenth as a paid holiday, new rights for immigrants and workers impacted by the carceral system

The Hotel Figueroa’s contract will also expire January 15, 2028, before the world turns its attention on Los Angeles for the Olympic Games.

Community members have declared they are ready to risk arrest in solidarity with workers at unsettled hotels like Cameo Beverly Hills, which is operated by Remington, Westin Long Beach, and Glendale Hilton if no deal is reached.

UNITE HERE Local 11 Joins UNITE HERE International Union in Endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President

Monday August 5, 2024

PRESS CONTACT: Maria Hernandez | [email protected] | 623-340-8047

UNITE HERE Local 11 Joins UNITE HERE International Union in Endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President

UNITE HERE Local 11, representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in the battleground state of Arizona and in Southern California who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports, is proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President. Her track record is one of fighting for working families and we know she is the only candidate who will protect the rights of unions, immigrants, and women.

 

Local 11 already has a team of canvassers on the ground, talking to Arizona voters, and plans to have more than 500 cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers and servers knock on more than 1 million doors in Arizona for Vice President Kamala Harris and win for all of America’s working families.

 

These are the same hospitality workers who, in 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic, turned Arizona blue for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and helped elect US Senator Mark Kelly by knocking on 800,000 doors. That same year, they helped deliver victory in the runoff election for US Senators Osoff and Rafael Warnock of Georgia. In 2022, UNITE HERE Local 11 and its affiliate Worker Power knocked on over 600,000 doors and helped elect Governor Katie Hobbs.

 

In 2023 UNITE HERE Local 11 led the nation’s largest hotel strike in modern US history and took on Airport Concession and Food Service companies. Workers fought for and won unprecedented wage increases, an unrivaled pension, and free healthcare for thousands of workers and their families, now they are ready to defend democracy.

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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.

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.

Housekeepers speak in favor of the Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance at Irvine City Hall in 2022

PRESS RELEASE: UNITE HERE Local 11 Sues City of Irvine Alleging Violation of Public Records Act

The City has refused to disclose information about employer applications for waivers from Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance, which protects housekeepers from assault and overly burdensome workloads

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 06/14/2024
CONTACT: Josh Nuni | (213) 293-9797 | [email protected]

Irvine, Calif.: Yesterday, UNITE HERE Local 11 filed a lawsuit against the City of Irvine, alleging that the City violated the California Public Records Act by refusing to disclose information the union requested relating to enforcement of the Irvine Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance.

The Ordinance protects Irvine hotel workers from violent or threatening conduct from guests by requiring employers to provide panic buttons to employees who work alone in guest rooms or restrooms; and prevents hotels from assigning housekeepers overly burdensome workloads without fair compensation. Hotels are eligible for a waiver if they can show that complying would cause a significant adverse economic impact, such as “bankruptcy, a shutdown of the hotel, reduction of the hotel’s workforce by more than 20 percent, or curtailment of hotel workers’ total hours by more than 30 percent.”

Embassy Suites Irvine and at least 15 other hotel employers submitted applications to the City for a waiver from the law the month that workload-related provisions of the Ordinance went into effect, apparently claiming that compliance would cause a significant adverse economic impact. Nearly a year after submitting a Public Records Act request to the City of Irvine requesting the materials submitted by Embassy Suites Irvine and other hotels in support of their waiver applications, the City has refused to provide these documents—including documents demonstrating purported financial hardship.

A year later, the City has yet to indicate its position on these applications.

Embassy Suites Irvine is owned by RLJ Lodging Trust and operated by Sage Client 439, LLC, a subsidiary of Sage Hospitality Group. RLJ Lodging Trust reported $324.4 million in revenues in the first quarter of 2024 alone and, according to SEC filings, paid CEO Leslie Hale more than $8.5M in 2023. In November 2023, analysts projected Sage Hospitality Group to surpass $1 billion in revenues by the end of the year, according to CoStar.

In June 2023, Local 11 submitted a Public Records Act request to the City of Irvine, requesting the materials submitted by Embassy Suites Irvine and other hotels in support of their waiver applications, including documents demonstrating purported financial hardship. To date, the City has refused to produce these documents.

Irvine adopted the Ordinance in November 2022. Similar ordinances have passed throughout California, including in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Glendale, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Emeryville, as well as in Seattle.

Josh Nuni of The People’s Law Project: Los Angeles is representing Local 11.

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UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing over 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers, and airports.

A collage of group photos showing hotel workers celebrating at the Le Meridien Delfina, the Viceroy, the Sheraton Four Points LAX, the Courtyard by Marriott Santa Monica and the Hampton Inn & Suites Santa Monica

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.

A group of two dozen hotel housekeepers in blue uniforms smile and raise their arms in victory as they learn about their new union contracts

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.

A group of a dozen hotel workers smile and raise their arms in victory in front of a wall that reads "Viceroy"

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.”

Dozens of hotel workers gather in the lobby of the Sheraton Four Points to celebrate winning a new union contract

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.

Hotel workers gather with balloons at the Hampton Inn Santa Monica

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.

A group of hotel smile and pose in front of the Courtyard by Marriott

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.

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.

UNITE HERE Local 11 and Hotel Maya issued this statement: “The Hotel Maya and UNITE HERE Local 11 are pleased to announce we have reached a fair settlement of our dispute. The settlement includes a commitment from all parties to engage in a good-faith reconciliation  process.”

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 RELEASE: 04/18/2024
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

PRESS RELEASE: New Group of Disney Workers Seeks to Unionize

Disney Vacation Club salespeople allege Disney has violated federal law, including by firing coworkers for organizing

Anaheim, Calif.: A group of nearly fifty Disney Vacation Club workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board last week requesting to schedule an election to join UNITE HERE Local 11. The election filing comes after the union filed seven unfair labor practice charges against the company over the last month.

The unfair labor practice charges, which are pending investigation by the National Labor Relations Board, include allegations that the company fired three employees because of their union activity—among them a top salesperson who had won an award for his performance just a few weeks earlier—as well as creating the impression of surveillance of union activities and making implied threats concerning worker leaders.

The National Labor Relations Act grants employees rights to join together to improve wages and working conditions—including by forming or joining a union. It is unlawful for an employer to interfere with these rights, yet workers allege Disney Vacation Club did exactly that in response to the workers’ organizing efforts.

“We started talking with each other about how we could make a difference at work, and then our leadership team started acting strange. They pulled some of us into meetings and finally fired three people who were involved in the organizing efforts—including two of our best sellers and one person who had almost 13 years of experience,” said Rana Salama, a Disney Vacation Club salesperson of more than one year. “We just want Disney to respect our rights at work.”

Disney Vacation Club is the business within the Walt Disney Company that sells ownership interests, usually called “timeshares,” in Disney Vacation Club resorts. The workers are seeking wages and commission rates that will allow them to live in the community where they work, as well as improved healthcare and retirement benefits, fair workloads, an end to management favoritism, and greater transparency.

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—including nearly 3,000 employees of the Walt Disney Company.

PRESS ADVISORY: Workers at Hilton Pasadena to Protest Amid City’s Crackdown on Free Speech

Workers will strike and picket despite City Attorney filing criminal cases against against workers who peacefully protested during earlier strike

Pasadena, CA: Dozens of hotel housekeepers, cooks and other employees of the Hilton Pasadena will be among hundreds of workers at hotels operated by Aimbridge Hospitality who will strike this Friday as part of a campaign for living wages, dignified conditions, and protections against sexual harassment.

The Hilton workers’ strike comes in the wake of criminal filings by the Pasadena City Attorney against protestors who participated in a peaceful picket line at the Hilton during a previous strike in December.  Pasadena is the only city in Southern California that has filed criminal charges against participants in strikes that have occurred at more than sixty hotels across Southern California.

The charges allege that the protestors used handheld bullhorns in violation of a city law that restricts the use of amplified sound that is more than five decibels above the ambient level. The union asserts that the law is unconstitutionally restrictive of free speech and that it was misapplied by the City Attorney in a way that stifled workers’ First Amendment rights.  Despite the City’s crackdown, the workers plan to strike again and to exercise their constitutional rights to peacefully protest.

Workers at the Pasadena Hilton join the already hundreds of workers at hotels operated by Aimbridge Hospitality across the Los Angeles area on strike.  Through strikes and an “occupy” action near LAX, Aimbridge workers are seeking send a message that Aimbridge’s to their operator that management’s recent response to sexual harassment allegations will not suffice and that they want respect and a fair contract.  Earlier this year, workers launched a boycott of the controversial hotel operator, which they have dubbed “Shamebridge.”