Massive strike begins as hotel workers in Southern California demand better pay

Thousands of Southern California hotel workers launched a strike on July 2, just as the July Fourth holiday weekend kicked off. The strike, led by UNITE HERE Local 11, aims to secure a new contract with higher wages and improved benefits for the workers.

The strike comes days after the Westin Bonaventure, L.A.'s biggest hotel, agreed to increase wages and pension contributions for its 600 workers, said the union behind the strike.

UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents over 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, announced that the strike was taking place at more than a dozen hotels in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The workers' previous contract expired shortly after midnight, prompting the strike action.

The strike encompasses various positions within the hotel industry, including cooks, dishwashers, servers, front desk workers, and room attendants. The union stated that approximately 15,000 workers across 65 hotels were covered by the expired contract.

The union's primary demands include a wage increase of $5 per hour, access to affordable family health care benefits, and stronger workplace protections. However, specific details regarding the negotiations were not immediately available from the union spokesperson.

Negotiations between the union and hotel management began on April 20, as per UNITE HERE Local 11. Last month, an overwhelming majority of union members, 96%, voted in favor of authorizing the strike.

One of the key arguments put forth by the union is that while hotels have received significant federal bailouts during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since rebounded, wages have not kept pace with the rising cost of housing. Affordable housing advocates have emphasized that the soaring rents in California contribute to the homelessness crisis, with a shortage of nearly 1mn affordable rental home available for extremely low-income renters, as reported by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Furthermore, the union has expressed concerns that hosting the soccer World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles may exacerbate the housing crisis.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, criticized hotel negotiators for taking a four-day holiday instead of continuing negotiations, describing their actions as "shameful."

The strike action by thousands of hotel workers during a major holiday weekend is expected to impact the hospitality industry in Southern California, putting pressure on hotel management to address the workers' demands and reach a satisfactory agreement.