POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

UNITE HERE Local 11 members fight for policies that benefit working families and immigrants, and for politicians who stand with our values. UNITE HERE Local 11 and our allies not only knock on hundreds of thousands of voters’ doors in each presidential election, we also activate voters for key legislative and city races and state propositions across California and Arizona.

Local 11 members are the cooks and servers, dishwashers and room attendants, baristas and cashiers who take the time to look a voter in the eye and ask them what kind of world they want to live in. We bring the same energy and drive to every election that we do to winning life-changing improvements in our working lives, and that energy affects outcomes. During the global pandemic of 2020, Local 11 ran the largest single canvass in Arizona, winning the state for for Joe Biden and Senator Mark Kelly, and helped deliver victory in the runoff election for Georgia senators Jon Osoff and Rafael Warnock.

In 2024, UNITE HERE Local 11 and our allies at Worker Power knocked on 1.3 million voters’ doors and had more than 250,000 conversations with voters. Local 11 members look forward to making the difference in upcoming local elections through to the 2026 midterms, and to remaining on the forefront in the fight for American democracy in 2028.

UNITE HERE Local 11 Endorses Christy Smith for Congress

Smith pledges to fight for hospitality workers and to hold large corporations accountable for abuse of the Paycheck Protection Program

Panorama City, Calif.—UNITE HERE Local 11 is proud to endorse Christy Smith for California’s 27th Congressional District in a competitive, must-win race for Democrats. In the California State Assembly, Smith has authored bills focusing on education reform, homeowner protections and college affordability.

Smith is a pro-choice champion that will focus on protecting reproductive rights, tackling climate change and creating an equitable economy that works for everyone. Her opponent, Trump Republican Mike Garcia, voted against the certification of electoral votes in Pennsylvania and Arizona that helped cement Joe Biden’s presidential victory, opposed the impeachment of President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, stood against legalizing Dreamers and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and cosponsored legislation that would effectively ban all abortion and some forms of birth control.

Garcia is the wrong candidate for hospitality workers and the wrong candidate for Northern Los Angeles County. In May 2020, Garcia helped block the bipartisan TRUTH Act, which would have ensured greater transparency regarding how Paycheck Protection Program funds are allocated and made sure funds get to the small businesses for which they are intended. Over two years later, although National Bureau of Economic Research analysis found that only 23% to 34% of the $800 billion in PPP funds went to workers who would have otherwise lost their jobs, taxpayers are still waiting for the Small Business Administration to disclose how borrowers claim to have spent their loans in loan forgiveness applications.

The Chair of the Biden Administration’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee said it wouldn’t surprise him if there was over $100 billion in fraudulent pandemic aid and the head of the SBA’s Office of Inspector General said billions in pandemic fraud will take 100 years of work to investigate.

Garcia campaign donor and fellow Trump supporter Paul Reed is Chairman of hotel and golf course firm JC Resorts, a company that should be a high priority for investigation. The Los Serranos Golf Club operated by JC Resorts received $1.5 million in PPP loans, but JC Resorts appears to be over the threshold for PPP eligibility; one business analytics company estimates JC Resorts’ total number of employees to be 1200 and its annual sales to be $70.5 million.

We can’t count on Mike Garcia to investigate whether wealthy hospitality firms like JC Resorts improperly took PPP loans meant for real small businesses or to push for greater transparency and oversight of trillions in Covid relief.

Christy Smith will help taxpayers and workers get to the bottom of PPP fraud, and has what it takes to beat Mike Garcia.

###

The Woman Who Turned Orange County Blue

Los Angeles votes to adopt hotel worker protections

UNITE HERE Local 11 Housekeepers Submit 100k Signatures on Groundbreaking Initiative to City of Los Angeles

Initiative would follow lead of neighboring cities to mandate panic buttons and raise minimum wage for hotel workers

Los Angeles – Over one hundred housekeepers and other hospitality workers today turned in the petitions they have collected since late January to qualify their initiative for the November 2022 ballot. The initiative mirrors protections they have secured in Long Beach, Santa Monica and most recently West Hollywood.

“I am one of thousands of housekeepers in Los Angeles who will finally have panic buttons and other protections on the job”, said Martha Moran, a laid off housekeeper from the storied Chateau Marmont. “My coworkers and I deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and to receive fair compensation for the work we do. This initiative provides those things.”

Over one hundred thousand Angelenos have signed on to the measure that provides:

  • Panic buttons and other security measures to protect hotel housekeepers from sexual assault and threatening conduct
  • Fair compensation for heavy workloads
  • Automatic daily room cleaning throughout the industry
  • Expansion of minimum wage law for hotel workers
    “My heart is always with the workers, like my mother, who worked her fingers to the bone,” said Councilman Kevin De Leon. “The hard-working immigrant women and men who make up the hospitality industry in our city are the backbone of our economy and I’m proud to stand with them today as they submit their historic initiative petition. I’m ready to work with my colleagues on the L.A. City Council to transform this initiative into law. The people have spoken, and it’s our job to listen.”

“Even though I don’t work at a hotel, I understand that raising the standards for some of the lowest paid workers in the hospitality industry will bring up standards for all of us,” said Isha Kallay, food server from the Hollywood Park and Casino. “I wanted to collect signatures for this initiative because we need to stick together in order for all of us to get ahead.”

The housekeeping measure comes in response to the hotel industry’s attempt to cut labor costs and increase workloads by eliminating daily room cleaning during the pandemic. It also provides vital protections against sexual assault for housekeepers when cleaning guest rooms alone. The workers call on the Los Angeles City Council to outright adopt the law.

“The hotel industry has wanted to get rid of daily room cleaning for years, and the pandemic gave them the perfect excuse,” notes Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “Angelenos have just shown the industry, led by the Chateau Marmont, that they see through the greedy pandemic profiteering tactics and stand with the housekeepers. I am hopeful that the Los Angeles City Council will do the same and outright adopt the ordinance. Los Angeles is a leading tourist destination; that should mean good jobs for Angelenos.”

Watch the entire press conference here
View more photos here

Kenny Washington Day





February 13, 2022—Super Bowl Sunday!—was officially marked as Kenny Washington Day by a motion of the LA City Council introduced by Councilmember Curren Price. Kenny Washington was the first African-American player to integrate the NFL. Two days previously, a tentative agreement was reached between concession workers and management at SoFi Stadium on their first Union contract. To celebrate both the legacy of Kenny Washington and the tentative union contract for SoFi workers, we were joined—amongst others—by civil rights legend, Reverend James Lawson. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, LA County Fed President Ron Herrera, LA City Councilmember Curren Price, NFL Players Association President JC Tretter, and the NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith.

Unions Must Help Salvage Democracy

UNITE HERE Local 11 Endorses “Living Wage Hero” Lindsey Horvath for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Danielle Wilson | dwilson[at]unitehere11[dot]org | 818-534-799nine

Los Angeles – UNITE HERE Local 11 is proud to endorse West Hollywood City Councilmember Lindsey Horvath for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors District 3. She was a decisive vote in passing the highest citywide minimum wage in the country.

Horvath’s victory on the minimum wage wasn’t easy. As early as 2015, the young Councilmember led the “Fight for $15” in West Hollywood, but despite her advocacy the then-City Council did not pass her proposal. This past summer Horvath became Mayor of the city, and things started to change. Mayor Horvath fought for and won groundbreaking legislation to protect hotel housekeepers from sexual assault, give them the right to return to their jobs by seniority amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and to improve the minimum wage to make sure housekeepers are fairly compensated for heavy workloads. Just months later, Horvath was the deciding vote to pass the highest minimum wage in the country at $17.64, making West Hollywood a national leader on policy for working people.

“Lindsey exemplifies what it means to be a public servant who fights for working people,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11. “Our members can count on her no matter what, and that’s who we need to send to the Board of Supervisors.”

“The new minimum wage in West Hollywood will change my life, the lives of hotel workers across town, and all workers,” said Sandra Pellecer, who has worked as a cook in West Hollywood hotels for 16 years. “Lindsey Horvath fought for us and I’m proud to stand with her.”

# # #

UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing 32,000 members who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers, and airports.