LOS ANGELES: UNITE HERE Local 11 and dozens of workers and clergy leaders from CLUE held a press conference calling for a boycott of the Hotel Figueroa and The Botanical Group, which is the newest restaurant operator, on Thursday. The worker-called boycott marks a significant escalation in a months-long labor dispute that began last July.
“I’m calling for a boycott of the hotel because our jobs are very difficult, and the company’s response to our strike and their failure to sign a fair contract has shown that they don’t value or respect us,” said Noelia Gonzales, room attendant at the Figueroa Hotel.
The hotel’s workers, who have been protesting and striking for wages enabling them to afford to live in Los Angeles amid soaring housing costs, have faced violence on the picket line. During a strike in January, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, workers were fired upon by a sniper, apparently using an air rifle, with large metal ball bearings. They have taken to wearing bullet proof vests and helmets on the picket lines. The unknown assailant remains at large.
“I was shot twice with metal ball bearings from across the street while on strike with my coworkers. I was hit on my neck and feet. We do not deserve to risk our safety simply because we are advocating for ourselves. I want there to be justice, and for the violence that we endured to not go unnoticed, that is why we are calling for a boycott,” said Felix Vanegas, houseman at the Figueroa Hotel.
Making matters even worse, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, more than one hundred food and beverage workers were fired in February by the hotel’s former food and beverage operator after workers began an effort to unionize. After a brief closure, a new operator reopened the Cafe Fig and other outlets, but without the workers who had staffed the restaurant for years. UNITE HERE Local 11 has requested that the Office of Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto investigate potential violations of Los Angeles’s Hotel Worker Retention Ordinance.
Workers and community allies delivered a letter signed by nearly 500 people demanding that the hotel bring back the “Figueroa 100.” Workers are calling for tourists and visitors to choose alternatives for any travel and events until all of the workers have won the dignity and respect they deserve and the fired restaurant workers are returned to work.
“We denounce the violence picketing workers have endured with metal ball pellets shot at them while on strike and we demand the hotel bring back the Figueroa 100. Why should workers have to be out in the street subjecting themselves to this kind of violence-literally picketing in bulletproof vests, helmets, and goggles? It should not take this kind of bravery to simply get a company to pay wages that workers can live on. You cannot treat people like this,” said Ada Briceño, co-president UNITE HERE Local 11.
Joining the workers was Reverend Edgar Colon of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, “CLUE will join the boycott of this establishment, and will neither eat, meet, sleep or gather here until the issues that the workers have laid out have been resolved.
PRESS RELEASE: Aimbridge Hospitality Slammed With Sexual Harassment Complaints
Workers file state complaints, gather to protest company’s alleged failure to prevent harassment
Anaheim, Calif.: Three women workers from the Aimbridge Hospitality-operated Sheraton Park Anaheim each submitted complaints to the California Civil Rights Department today, alleging that their employer failed to respond properly to their complaints of repeated sexual harassment. The complaints come on the heels of hotel workers calling for a boycott of Aimbridge Hospitality, dubbed “Shamebridge.”
Worker Jenny Hong alleged in her letter that for almost six months, she faced nearly daily sexual harassment from a coworker who made unwanted comments on her appearance, physically grabbed her, and caused her intense anxiety at work. Worker Margarita Virrueta de Garibay separately alleged that the same coworker subjected her to sexually suggestive comments and unsolicited “massages.” Hong and a third woman reported the coworker’s conduct to the hotel’s human resources department, but both women allege that the company has done little to protect them from ongoing harassment.
“I am choosing to break my silence now because no woman should experience abuse in the workplace.” says Virrueta de Garibay. “I want to ensure that future generations of women, everywhere, feel safe and comfortable where they work.
Two weeks ago, another woman worker at an Aimbridge-operated hotel complained that she was fired from the Hampton Inn Santa Monica after reporting near-daily harassment. Maritza Villeda also submitted a letter to the Civil Rights Department in which she reported that a coworker verbally threatened her repeatedly, including aggressively calling her a “fucking bitch.” Villeda alleged that after she complained to hotel management at least five times over several weeks, the hotel failed to respond appropriately to her complaints and instead retaliated against her by terminating her.
“It is shameful that these hotel workers brought their complaints to management and were reportedly met with indifference,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “Aimbridge Hospitality continues to show how little it cares for its employees.”
At yet a third hotel, the San Pedro Doubletree, which was operated by Aimbridge until it was replaced earlier this year, workers have filed a pending class action lawsuit against an Aimbridge subsidiary alleging violations of the panic button and other worker safety provisions of the Los Angeles Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance. A primary purpose of this ordinance is to help protect workers from sexual assault in the workplace.
These charges of disregard for worker safety suggest an ongoing pattern of Aimbridge’s failure to protect its workers. The California Labor Commissioner and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón are currently investigating allegations of the exploitation of unhoused migrant workers at other Aimbridge properties in Southern California. Two additional Aimbridge-operated hotels face pending federal unfair labor practice allegations that managers unlawfully interfered with the rights of employees to engage in union or other protected activity.
The submission of these complaints takes place days before the Natural Products Expo West descends on Anaheim. Hotel workers have told event organizers to anticipate picketing and disruptions as they continue to fight for safe working conditions. Aimbridge Hospitality, the third-largest hotel operator in the world, operates a dozen hotels in Orange County.
PRESS RELEASE: Boycott of Hotel Figueroa and Restaurant Operator, The Botanical Group, Declared Following Firings, Shootings, and Unsettled Labor Dispute; Letter Signed by Hundreds Delivered
“I’m calling for a boycott of the hotel because our jobs are very difficult, and the company’s response to our strike and their failure to sign a fair contract has shown that they don’t value or respect us,” said Noelia Gonzales, room attendant at the Figueroa Hotel.
“I was shot twice with metal ball bearings from across the street while on strike with my coworkers. I was hit on my neck and feet. We do not deserve to risk our safety simply because we are advocating for ourselves. I want there to be justice, and for the violence that we endured to not go unnoticed, that is why we are calling for a boycott,” said Felix Vanegas, houseman at the Figueroa Hotel.
Workers and community allies delivered a letter signed by nearly 500 people demanding that the hotel bring back the “Figueroa 100.” Workers are calling for tourists and visitors to choose alternatives for any travel and events until all of the workers have won the dignity and respect they deserve and the fired restaurant workers are returned to work.
Joining the workers was Reverend Edgar Colon of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, “CLUE will join the boycott of this establishment, and will neither eat, meet, sleep or gather here until the issues that the workers have laid out have been resolved.
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PRESS RELEASE: Women Leaders Rise Up in Support of SaMo Hotel Worker Filing Sexual Harassment Complaint Against Aimbridge-Operated Property
Santa Monica, Calif.: Days before the Film Independent Spirit Awards take place in Santa Monica, prominent women leaders from CLUE, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Program for Torture Victims joined silence breakers to rally and picket outside the Hampton Inn Santa Monica. They expressed support for hotel worker Maritza Villeda, who submitted a complaint to the California Civil Rights Department alleging that her employer, the Aimbridge Hospitality-operated Hampton Inn Santa Monica, failed to respond properly to her complaints of sexual harassment by a coworker and instead terminated her.
In a letter to the California Civil Rights Department, long-time Aimbridge employee Villeda alleged that a valet employee repeatedly verbally threatened her at work, including by aggressively calling her a “fucking bitch.” In her letter, Villeda alleges that the verbal threats and sexist slurs continued on a near-daily basis for over six weeks, even though she reported the behavior to the general manager on multiple occasions. She alleges that the hotel failed to respond appropriately to her complaints of harassment, and that instead, the hotel retaliated against her by terminating her.
Hotel workers have a long history of fighting for protections against assault in Santa Monica, and fought in 2018 to pass laws that then expanded across to multiple cities.
Workers at the Hampton Inn Santa Monica are part of dozens of other hotel workers who have been fighting for a fair contract since July 2023. There is currently a boycott of Aimbridge Hospitality.
“Women’s rights are civil rights and we must protect them! SLCL is proud to stand with Maritza and her coworkers,” said Reverend Thembekila Smart of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California.
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