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UNITE HERE Local 11

NOTICIAS TELEMUNDO: Local 11 Verónica Chavez Interviewed at the Democratic National Convention




Watch our union sister Verónica Chavez talking about her experience as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention.

WeHo Times masthead with headline "Mayor John Erickson and Commissioner Danny Hang Land Major Endorsements from Six Progressive Organizations" and portraits of John Erickson and Danny Hang on red backgrounds

WEHO TIMES: Mayor John Erickson and Commissioner Danny Hang Land Major Endorsements from Six Progressive Organizations

WeHo Times masthead with headline "Mayor John Erickson and Commissioner Danny Hang Land Major Endorsements from Six Progressive Organizations" and portraits of John Erickson and Danny Hang on red backgrounds

UNITE HERE Local 11 Endorses Kamala Harris for President

UNITE HERE, the union running the nation’s largest labor-led canvassing operation, proudly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President in the 2024 election. Harris has consistently shown her unwavering dedication to working people and the labor movement.

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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ZÓCALO: How We Won a Historic Contract for Hotel Workers

WINNING THE 2023–2024 HOTEL STRIKE

Since July 1, 2023, workers in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Arizona have gone on strike more than 175 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.

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.

FOUR MORE WINS!