Thousands of Southern California hotel workers authorized a strike on Thursday over pay and conditions in what would be the largest-ever strike by hotel workers.
Members of Unite Here Local 11, which represents over 32,000 nonmanagement hotel workers in Southern California and Arizona, made the decision as contract negotiations fell apart.
The decision impacts 15,000 hotel workers represented by the union as their contracts with employers are up at the end of June,
The workers could strike as early as July 1, just as the summer holidays and vacation plans begin.
Los Angeles is preparing to host two of the largest sporting events in the world back to back, the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028.
Workers aim to resolve their contract negotiations ahead of these highly profitable events and extremely busy periods for the industry.
Employees who work at the top U.S. hotels, including Hyatt, Hilton, Highgate, Accor, IHG, and Marriott, are pushing for a $10 hourly wage increase, affordable family healthcare, retirement pensions, safe workloads and staffing levels, and “a safe and humane workload.”
Hotels throughout the industry have used the COVID-19 pandemic to cut staffing levels and increase workloads, such as eliminating daily guest room cleaning as employees try to keep pace with the cost of housing in Southern California.
Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, said the union provided hotels with a proposal in April 2023 but only recently heard back from the hotels with a counter-proposal, which he said didn’t include any economic responses.
“The workers are absolutely furious,” Petersen said. “When the contracts expire, we are prepared to call an industry-wide strike, which, if we do, will be the largest strike as far as we can tell in the hotel industry in probably U.S. history but definitely in the last 50 years.”
“Hotel workers who work in the booming Los Angeles’ tourism industry must be able to live in Los Angeles,” Petersen added. “The industry shamelessly exploited the pandemic and is now reaping greater profits. Yet workers cannot afford to pay the rent.”
Lupe Pitones, who has worked at the front desk of the Westin Bonaventure hotel in Los Angeles for 17 years, is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, which included a long furlough from her job and issues with retaining and finding health insurance while awaiting and receiving a liver transplant.
“It was overwhelming. So many things go through your mind, if I’m going to die, what if I don’t make it, my family, insurance,” Pitones said.“We have to fight for health insurance because it is crucial. Sometimes your life depends on having insurance for your loved ones and yourself, and having it gives peace of mind,” added Pitones. “For this contract, we want to emphasize that we deserve more because prices are higher and we’re not getting enough hours. We’re hard workers, and we will fight when it’s time to fight.”
Other hotel workers in the area have criticized the high cost of rent in the Los Angeles area that has pushed out workers to have to live far away from their hotels of employment.
“I am forced to spend half my wages on transportation and risk my life on dangerous roads. I am voting yes to strike because my co-workers and I deserve a wage that allows us to live near where we work,” Mendoza said in a press release.
Michael D’Angelo, a Hyatt vice president of labor relations, said last week that the company was disappointed the union was pushing a strike authorization so soon in negotiations.
The hotel giant “is committed to bargaining in good faith,” D’Angelo said in a statement issued May 31, noting that Hyatt and Unite Here have successfully negotiated agreements this year in other markets, including Long Beach. “We remain optimistic that a mutually beneficial agreement can be reached without a strike.”
