Fairmont Miramar Reaches Historic Union Agreement; Strikes Continue at other Santa Monica Hotels
Santa Monica: After six months of strikes and picket lines, the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows is the latest hotel to sign a tentative agreement with UNITE HERE Local 11.
With this latest announcement, a total of 25 Southern California hotels have now signed tentative agreements with the union.
“We’re excited and proud to have reached an agreement at our hotel,” says Fairmont Miramar worker Liliana Hernandez, who has been a housekeeper at the hotel for eleven years. “The last six months were challenging for us, but I am so grateful that the whole union stood behind me and my coworkers, and I’m proud of the leadership and solidarity. We hope other Santa Monica hotels follow the example of the Fairmont. Sí se puede.”
Once the contract is ratified, Fairmont Miramar workers will enjoy the 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.
“We applaud the Fairmont Miramar for signing this historic agreement,” said UNITE HERE Local 11 co-president, Kurt Petersen. “This victory once again demonstrates our members’ indomitable spirit and sends an unambiguous message to the remaining hotels that we will not stop fighting until we have won a living wage at all hotels.”
Other hotels operated by Aimbridge Hospitality, such as the Hilton Pasadena, Blackstone-owned Aloft and Fairfield El Segundo, and Ensemble-operated Hotel Maya and Hyatt Place Pasadena, continue to refuse to meet the new hotel contract standard. Dozens of workers at the Hilton Pasadena and Hyatt Place Pasadena walked out on the eve of the Rose Parade.