PRESS INQUIRIES
For Press Inquiries:
Maria Hernandez, Communications
(623) 340-8047 (mobile)
[email protected]
For Arizona Press Inquiries:
Rachele Smith, Communications
(623) 670-9889 (mobile)
[email protected]
Some of the following press releases have been shortened and edited to avoid redundancy.
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BOYCOTT: Workers at Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center Call for Boycott Amid Growing Labor Issues with ASM and Joint Employer, City of Long Beach
For months, workers have been seeking to bargain a successor union contract with fair working conditions, voted to authorize a strike and then picketed the Convention Center during Mayor Rex Richardson’s State of the City & the Long Beach State of the Port last week.
PRESS RELEASE: Third Woman Alleges Sexual Harassment Against Flying Food Group at LAX, File Complaints Againts Airline Catering Giant
Inglewood, CA: A third woman has filed a complaint against Flying Food Group, an airline catering giant LAX following two other women who did the same last month. All three are alleging that Flying Food Group failed to protect them from sexual harassment and gender discrimination on the job
In November of last year, two women employees of Flying Food Group, Nelly Hernandez and Sandra Ruiz, filed charges with the California Civil Rights Department alleging that they were subject to repeated sexual advances by their supervisor, including in the form of sexual comments, inappropriate staring, and multiple instances of unwanted physical touching at work.
Earlier this week, Patricia Hernandez Marquez, a former employee of Flying Food Group, joined Miss. Hernandez and Ruiz by filing her own charges, which allege that the same supervisor harassed her while she worked for Flying Food and drove her to quit.
The women are asking the Civil Rights Department to investigate Flying Foods Group’s practices, including whether the conduct they have alleged constitutes illegal discrimination under California law.
Nelly Hernandez stated, “My supervisor has caused me to feel unsafe at work. I’m afraid to clean the upstairs areas by myself in case he’ll find me there. I stopped wearing perfume to work after all his comments. I decided that I needed to do something. Others need to know what is happening and that they, too, can combat this kind of injustice in their workplaces.”
Sandra Ruiz said, “After all that my supervisor has done, I feel anxious just to see him at work. I get headaches and stomach aches and have lost weight in recent months. The stress I feel having to come into work every day is too much for me to handle some days. After I learned about my co-workers speaking out, I knew I wasn’t alone. I decided I had to come forward and demand respect, too, so that this stops happening.”
“This is not the first time Flying Food has been accused of failing to protect its employees,” said Susan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, the union that represents all complainants. “Time and again, workers have raised complaints about sex discrimination and other issues to the company. It’s time for Flying Food to own up to its responsibility to the workers and hold management accountable for this kind of behavior. No woman should have to work under the kind of harassment Nelly, Sandra, and Patricia have described.”
“Sexual harassment and discrimination isn’t just humiliating to workers,” said Jennifer Reisch, supervising attorney for the University of California at Irvine’s Workers Law and Organizing Clinic, which filed the charges on behalf of Flying Food employees. “It also can be a tool for employers to divide workers and undermine their efforts at organizing and building solidarity in the workplace.”
Workers at Flying Food Group have been embroiled in a labor dispute since April 2023, when they went on strike for 28 days. Since that time, labor negotiations have continued to drag on without an agreement. The company has also been at the center of numerous legal battles; last month, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board announced that it would be moving to trial on seven unfair labor practices charges filed against the company, while a dozen more unfair labor practice charges remain under investigation. Flying Food Group also paid out $1.2 million in damages earlier this year to employees for failing to recall them in a timely manner after the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with the states’ Right to Recall law.
BREAKING NEWS: Long Beach Convention Center Workers Vote 85% To Strike Ahead of Long Beach State of the City, Call on City to Not Roll Back Living Wage Law
“My coworkers and I work hard to welcome all into our city. It is a shame that ASM Global has not ensured its workers earn livable wages whether we work directly for ASM or we are subcontracted.We all need wages to help us provide for our families. ” said Jesus Jr Morales a Banquet Captain at the Long Beach Convention Center.
Long Beach Convention and Long Beach Airport workers have also been advocating for the City to adopt an “Olympic Wage” ordinance to match the wages Long Beach hotel workers won in 2024. With hospitality business owners set to reap enormous benefits from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028, an increased minimum wage would ensure all workers who will welcome the millions of guests coming into the region can live in the communities near where they work.
Ada Briceño, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11 said, “As the city and our region are gearing up for the Olympics and Paralympics of 2028, it is disappointing that leaders are taking steps that would strip workers to a living wage. The city and its leadership have an opportunity to right this wrong.”
UNITE HERE Local 11 Members Care for Fire Evacuees in Southern California
PRESS RELEASE: Los Angeles City Council Votes for Historic Olympic Wage
Ordinance will increase wage for LAX & hotel workers to $30/hour by 2028, increase access to quality healthcare
Los Angeles: After dozens of tourism workers fasted for three days outside City Hall, the Los Angeles City council voted to move forward the Olympic Wage for tourism workers that would bring the wage to $30 an hour by the time the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028 and ensure workers have access to quality health coverage. The fasting workers are members of SEIU-United Service Workers West and Unite HERE Local 11 who work at LAX and some of LA’s major hotels.
UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power Lead Arizona’s Largest Voter Canvass for Harris
Phoenix, Ariz.–Building on their track record of winning elections cycle after cycle, UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power knew that knocking on doors and having conversations with voters to get out the vote was essential. UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power grew to over 500 canvassers after launching their field operation in August.
Key LA City Council Vote on Olympic Wage for Los Angeles Tourism Workers
Los Angeles – Hundreds of cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, airport workers, and allies will pack the chambers for a vote on the Olympic Wage in the Economic, Community Development, and Jobs Committee. As a major legacy project for the 2028 Games, the Olympic Wage will be the first in mega-event history, increasing wages and healthcare benefits for over 32,000 tourism workers who are predominantly workers of color and immigrants.
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.