CONTRACT RATIFICATIONS
We have won an unprecedented agreement in every way, from wages, pension, and healthcare to job security, to fair staffing guarantees. But our members’ tenacity and fearlessness is even more impressive. No one has fought harder to win a living wage, sacrificing pay and overcoming physical violence and abuse than room attendants, cooks and servers. They are heroes.
PRESS RELEASE: UNITE HERE Local 11 Unveils Results and Terms of Historic Deal Reached At 34 Hotels
Los Angeles: On Monday, March 25, UNITE HERE Local 11 announced the results and terms of the historic accords in a press conference outside of the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Thursday, March 21st, thousands of hotel workers at 34 hotels in Southern California began voting to ratify tentative labor agreements with a range of hotel companies. 98% of workers voted to ratify the agreement. At 11 properties 100% of workers voted in favor of the new contract.
Since July 1, 2023, from Laguna Beach to Long Beach to Beverly Hills to Pasadena, more than 10,000 workers at 53 hotels have struck more than 160 times, making this the nation’s largest hotel worker strike wave in modern history. Hotel-worker wages, like those for all Angelenos, have not kept up with soaring housing costs. The striking workers have demanded that the hotel industry, which is enjoying record post-pandemic profits, cough up major wage increases so that workers can live near where they work.
As workers at 34 hotels held ratification votes, dozens of hotels remain unsettled, including the Hotel Figueroa, Hotel Maya, Doubletree Downtown Los Angeles, and the LA Grand, the site of the city-operated Inside Safe Program. At these hotels, workers continue to strike, picket, or boycott for their contract. Last week, workers at Proper Santa Monica, Hotel June, San Pedro Doubletree, and Proper Downtown Los Angeles walked out on strike.
“We have won an unprecedented agreement in every way, from wages, pension, and healthcare to job security, to fair staffing guarantees. But our members’ tenacity and fearlessness is even more impressive. No one has fought harder to win a living wage, sacrificing pay and overcoming physical violence and abuse than room attendants, cooks and servers. They are heroes,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “And this dogged determination should signal to the rest that we will not stop until every worker has won the same magnificent contract.”
The announcement also comes days after the politically powerful union’s ground game was key in passing the highest minimum wage in the country in Long Beach ahead of the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, and securing Nithya Raman’s seat on the Los Angeles City Council.
BREAKING NEWS: Five Hotels – Sofitel, 2 Hyatts in Long Beach, Hyatt Andaz, Hyatt Shay – Sign Tentative Agreements with UNITE HERE Local 11, Raising Total to 34 Hotels
Los Angeles, CA: Hundreds of workers – including those at the Sofitel, Hyatt Shay in Culver City, Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach, and Hyatt Andaz in West Hollywood – are the latest to win tentative agreements in the largest hotel strike in U.S. history. Workers have struck more than 130 times since contracts expired last July.
Once the contract is ratified, the workers will enjoy the same extraordinary standard achieved in the previous tentative agreements, including:
- Unprecedented wage increases that keep pace with the soaring cost of housing
- Affordable, excellent family healthcare
- Humane workloads and safe staffing
- Improved pension increases so that workers can retire with dignity
- Language improvements, including Equal Justice language that, among other things, will help to provide access to union jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals and unprecedented protections for immigrant workers
Thirty-four hotels have reached tentative agreements with UNITE HERE Local 11. Private-equity owned Aimbridge Hospitality (Hyatt Regency LAX, Holiday Inn LAX, Doubletree DTLA, Hampton Inn Santa Monica, Courtyard Santa Monica, Sheraton Park Anaheim) continues to resist their workers’ demands. Workers have called a boycott – Shamebridge – which has resulted in Aimbridge losing operating contracts at two LA hotels.
“My coworkers and I stuck together until we won what we deserved. We will keep fighting alongside our sisters and brothers at the Hotel Maya, Hyatt Regency LAX and others until they win too!” said Morena Hernandez, housekeeper at the Hyatt Andaz in West Hollywood.
“We applaud Hyatt and Sofitel for recognizing that their workers are essential to their success,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11. “Our members have never once faltered in this fight to win a wage that allows them to live near where they work. They have overcome intimidation, violence, and nothing will stop them until all hotels – including those run by private equity behemoths – sign this agreement.”
