Anaheim, CA: Hundreds of room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, bellmen and other hotel classifications walked out on strike at the Hilton Anaheim this morning. The walkout comes as the JAMZ Bid Challenge 2023 Cheerleading Competition is taking place.
Included in their contract demands since early July are humane staffing levels, wages that keep up with the rising cost of housing, better pension, and affordable healthcare.
Hilton workers hope to inform the public about the severe understaffing levels and burdensome workloads they have faced since the pandemic. Hotels across the region, including the Hilton Anaheim, eliminated automatic daily room cleaning and as a result workloads have worsened. Additionally, hotels have refused to bring back enough staff since the pandemic, leaving hotel workers forced to sometimes do the work of two or three people.
Elizabeth Galindo, housekeeper of six years at the Hilton Anaheim said “I am striking because I rush from room to room trying to keep up with the heavy workload of dusting, making the beds, vacuuming and washing, so I can give our paying guests the best service possible. The hotel has made it extremely difficult because since the pandemic, they have failed to bring back enough staff.”
While most hotels operated by large chains have remained opposed in response to workers’ demands for living wages, there have been some breakthroughs. Most recently, the Loews Hollywood Hotel and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott reached tentative agreements with their respective workers, making them the third and fourth hotels to do so, following the lead of the Biltmore Los Angeles and Westin Bonaventure.
“The hotel owners continue to take advantage of the pandemic,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11. “The billions in pandemic relief that they got wasn’t enough. They made the jobs harder when they eliminated daily room cleaning, and they have failed to staff the hotels at pre-pandemic levels, forcing more work onto fewer people. Their greed knows no bounds.”
BREAKING: Hilton Anaheim Workers Strike Over Wages and Understaffing Amid JAMZ Bid Challenge 2023 Cheerleading Competition
Anaheim, CA: Hundreds of room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, bellmen and other hotel classifications walked out on strike at the Hilton Anaheim this morning. The walkout comes as the JAMZ Bid Challenge 2023 Cheerleading Competition is taking place.
Included in their contract demands since early July are humane staffing levels, wages that keep up with the rising cost of housing, better pension, and affordable healthcare.
Elizabeth Galindo, housekeeper of six years at the Hilton Anaheim said “I am striking because I rush from room to room trying to keep up with the heavy workload of dusting, making the beds, vacuuming and washing, so I can give our paying guests the best service possible. The hotel has made it extremely difficult because since the pandemic, they have failed to bring back enough staff.”
While most hotels operated by large chains have remained opposed in response to workers’ demands for living wages, there have been some breakthroughs. Most recently, the Loews Hollywood Hotel and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott reached tentative agreements with their respective workers, making them the third and fourth hotels to do so, following the lead of the Biltmore Los Angeles and Westin Bonaventure.
“The hotel owners continue to take advantage of the pandemic,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11. “The billions in pandemic relief that they got wasn’t enough. They made the jobs harder when they eliminated daily room cleaning, and they have failed to staff the hotels at pre-pandemic levels, forcing more work onto fewer people. Their greed knows no bounds.”
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PHOENIX NEW TIMES: Cockroaches, rats and meager wages fuel strike at Sky Harbor
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Hotel Union Gears Up to Picket Major Hollywood Awards Ceremonies
HOW LOW CAN THEY GO?
The hotel CEOs make more than $10,000 an hour but they can’t pay you a living wage? How low can they go? Watch as we march through Santa Monica. Strike! Boycott! Win!
THE STATE OF THE 2023 CONTRACT FIGHT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LA City Council Moves Forward on Historic Ordinance to Prioritize Housing Over Luxury Hotel Development
Los Angeles – LA City Council moved forward this morning on a revised version of the Responsible Hotel Initiative. Previously proposed by President Paul Krekorian on November 1, this ordinance will codify the core goals of the original initiative put forward by Unite Here: protecting the housing stock in Los Angeles.
“We have said all along that our contract campaign has been about two things: housing for our members where they work and a living wage,” said Co-President Kurt Petersen of UNITE HERE Local 11. “With this ordinance, we
have done more to protect housing than any single contract demand would have done. The fight for a living wage continues.”
Los Angeles is experiencing a dramatic increase in hotel development, ranking second in the nation in the number of new hotel rooms in its pipeline, with more than 100 hotels under construction or in planning stages. Among other pro-housing provisions, the law would require developers of new hotels that displace housing to replace that housing on a one-for-one basis.
UNITE HERE Local 11 has until December 1 to withdraw the original language of the ordinance. The new ordinance would come before Council for a vote in early December.
LAist: LA City Council Moves Forward On Hotel Housing Ordinance
YOU ARE THE MUSCLE IN THE ROOM
We don’t care that the hotel companies have billions of dollars. The whole country knows that Local 11 is on strike.
YOU ARE THE MUSCLE IN THE ROOM
The march on October 25 was historic and monumental. Did you feel our power? “You are the muscle in the room.” Susan Minato, Co-President, UNITE HERE Local 11.