Hotel Workers In Southern California Go On Strike

A union representing 15,000 workers at 65 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties is set to go on strike early Saturday in a push for significantly improved wages, Chris Isidore reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: The union said workers are paid between $20 to $25 an hour and the union is demanding an immediate $5 an hour wage increase, which would represent an immediate 20% to 25% raise.

The current labor contract expires at 12:01 am PDT Saturday. Among the hotels that are set to be struck either overnight or early Saturday are the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott LA Live, Beverly Hilton, Fairmont Miramar, Anaheim Hilton, and Four Seasons Regent Beverly Wilshire, the setting for the movie “Pretty Woman.”

A person familiar with management plans said the hotels expect to stay open even if there is a strike, using management staff from the struck hotels and from other nonunion properties to fill in.

They are also expecting many of the strikers to return to work on Monday, when they will be eligible for a holiday pay premium, and for the union to then stage spot strikes at different hotels going forward.

In 2023, hotel profits in Los Angeles and Orange County exceeded pre-pandemic levels according to Unite Here Local 11, the union representing the workers. But the union said hospitality workers continue to struggle to afford a place to live in the cities where they work.

The union said in a survey of members, 53% said that they either have moved in the past five years or will move in the near future because of soaring housing costs.

“Hotel workers who work in the booming Los Angeles’ tourism industry must be able to live in Los Angeles,” said union Co-President Kurt Petersen. He said the 96% support in favor a strike in a vote earlier this month “sends a clear message to the industry that workers have reached their limit and are prepared to strike to secure a living wage.”

The union said workers are paid between $20 to $25 an hour and the union is demanding an immediate $5 an hour wage increase, which would represent an immediate 20% to 25% raise.

It also wants $ 3-an-hour wage increases in subsequent years of the contract, as well as improved health care and retirement benefits.

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