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.

High resolution photos are available upon request.

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.

“As a single mother of three who commutes over two hours from Bakersfield to work at LAX’s airline catering company LSG Sky Chef’s, it makes me happy to see this finally move forward . With the $20 I make it’s not nearly enough to help me live in Los Angeles. I am proud that city leaders are taking concrete steps to help better the lives of thousands of working families like mine ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics.”said Lorena Mendez, member of UNITE HERE Local 11 and faster.

“I have been fighting for this update to the Living Wage Ordinance for over 600 days because workers like me who are predominantly Black, brown, and immigrants and make LAX run deserve better. We deserve to be paid a wage we can live on. We deserve access to quality healthcare, so I can treat the COPD I developed from working at and living near LAX. I deserve access to the care my son needs to treat his asthma. Today’s City Council vote is a step in the right direction, demonstrating that when workers fight, workers win,” said Jovan Houston, LAX customer service agent, SEIU-USWW executive board member, and faster.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, said “Hotel and airport workers, the backbone of our thriving tourism industry, have made history. Through their strikes, marches, and even fasting, they won the nation’s highest minimum wage and the first-ever Olympic and Paralympic Wage. This is a critical first step to ensure that mega-events like the Olympics improve the lives of working Angelenos by providing affordable housing and good jobs, rather than simply enriching tourism CEO’s.”

“LAX workers have been fighting for the dignified wages and healthcare benefits that reflect the value of the essential work they do daily to anchor the transportation and tourism industries and will provide as our city prepares to host mega events like the World Cup and Olympics,” said David Huerta, President of SEIU-USWW. “LAX workers — predominantly Black, brown, and immigrant — took on the airlines and corporate special interests and even when faced with years of setbacks, they never gave up. Now, the LA City Council, thanks largely to the leadership of Councilmembers Soto-Martinez and Price and Council President Dawson has taken the righteous step to move the modernization of the Living Wage Ordinance forward, demonstrating that when LA responds to the needs of its workers, it can be a beacon of hope and live up to its name as the City of Angels.”

“Today’s vote is continuing the noble legacy of uplifting working families as the city gets ready to host the World Cup and the Olympics,” said Jessica Durrim Director at LAANE.

The vote marks a significant move forward after tourism workers first presented this ordinance in April 2023. The policy now goes to the City Attorney to draft and come back to the full council for a final vote. Tourism workers in Long Beach, another Olympics and Paralympics host city,  are similarly advocating for an Olympic wage.

UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power Lead Arizona’s Largest Voter Canvass for Harris

Knock on over 1.3 million doors, have over 250,000 conversations with voters

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.

 “Worker Power and UNITE HERE Local 11 focused on doing what we do best, connecting face-to-face with voters on top issues that matter to them like the economy, reproductive rights and democracy. I am particularly proud that we talked to over 32,000 voters who did not vote in Arizona in 2020,” said Brendan Walsh, Executive Director of Worker Power. “In our experience, having won Arizona for Biden in 2020, we found that oftentimes these heavily contested races come down to a handful of votes, and we are optimistic that our field program will deliver that key difference again this year.”

Worker Power’s universe of voters consisted of low propensity voters, voters of color, women, young people, and unaffiliated or independent voters, from Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties. Canvassers talked with 54.2% women and 51.6% voters of color to motivate them to vote for Harris, U.S. Senate candidate Ruben Gallego, and Prop 139. By election night we knocked on over 1.3 million doors and had 250,000 conversations with voters.

“As we wait for every vote to be counted, we know that hundreds of cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers, airport and food service workers, once again, left it all out in the field in Arizona to elect a President who will fight for working people. Our members just came off of a year-long contract fight at over 70 hotels and event centers, and won. They brought that same energy and drive to this election. That’s where the difference is made—not on television screens or billboards, but looking people in the eye and asking them what kind of world they want to live in.” said Susan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11 and Board Chair of Worker Power.

In addition to working on the Presidential and U.S. Senate elections, Worker Power and UNITE HERE Local 11 also activated voters to vote down ballot for key swing legislative races, Phoenix city council races, statewide propositions like Prop 139, and Prop 499 in Glendale.

“I had never been involved politically until this year. It was important for me to get out the vote for Harris because as a woman this election is a matter of life or death. I also have a sister and nieces in Texas where, like in Arizona, the rights of women and young girls are on the line. Decades ago women could not vote or own property, and we are not going back,” said Cynthia Jimenez, cook at Sky Harbor International Airport for 12 years and member of UNITE HERE Local 11, originally from Chiapas, Mexico.

UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power were affiliated with UNITE HERE International Union’s national program, which led field programs in seven key battleground states, including Nevada and Pennsylvania. Collectively, UNITE HERE knocked on 4 million doors to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Key LA City Council Vote on Olympic Wage for Los Angeles Tourism Workers

Vote would increase wages to $30/hour by 2028 and include improved access to healthcare 

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. 

The vote comes after months of delay by city officials and an occupy action outside City Hall. Last month, the city’s Chief Legislative Analyst released a report providing extensive economic analysis of the proposed ordinance, concluding that the policy will “significantly improve equity of both compensation and benefits for workers in the targeted sectors” and be “strongly beneficial to all three local economies: LA City, LA County, and its neighboring jurisdictions.” 

In a letter released earlier this month, leaders of UNITE HERE Local 11, a union representing some 32,000 hospitality and food service workers across Southern California and Arizona, called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), LA28, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and LA’s World Cup Host Committee to publicly endorse the LA Olympic Wage Ordinance as it comes up for a vote in LA City Council.

While the tourism industry is poised to continue to grow as it gears up to host the 2026 World Cup, 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and other mega-events, wages remain insufficient for tourism workers to continue to live in Los Angeles and surrounding cities as the region grapples with an unprecedented housing crisis. Although over 10,000 hotel workers have won historic wage increases in the largest hotel strike in U.S history led by UNITE HERE Local 11, thousands more in airports and hotels would benefit from the City of Los Angeles passing an Olympic Wage. Hotel, airport, and stadium contracts are set to expire in 2028, months before the Olympics and Paralympics.

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.