Hotel workers picketed in front of the 1 Hotel West Hollywood on July 12 as their labor union negotiated for higher wages. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Hotel workers with the Unite Here Local 11 labor union picketed in front of hotels from Beverly Hills to LAX on July 11 as the union entered a second week of walkouts amid stalled negotiations for a new contract.

Last month, nearly all of its 32,000 members voted to strike after their contract expired on June 30, complaining that workloads have increased while wages have stagnated. Many union workers say they are priced out of the neighborhoods where they work, and often have to endure hours-long commutes, sometimes from different counties.

Through a translator, Rosa Aleman, a housekeeper at The Beverly Hilton, said that while housing has long been an issue for union members, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem.

“During the pandemic the hotels closed, and pretty much folks were left out on the street,” Aleman said.

Unite Here Local 11 is negotiating for a workforce housing fund, better health benefits, higher pension contributions and an immediate wage increase of $5, followed by $3 raises for the next two years.

Contract negotiations have so far stalled, and on July 10, the Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents 44 hotels in Southern California, filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that the union has failed to bargain in good faith by withholding relevant documentation.

In a press release, Coordinated Bargaining Group spokesman Keith Grossman said the union did not respond to offers to continue negotiations on July 14 and 18, choosing instead to resume its strike.

Grossman added that the union has not provided a meaningful response to the bargaining group’s proposed contract that includes a $6.25 pay raise and increased health care benefits over the next four years.

“Local 11’s political agenda demands that hotels support the union’s ballot measure to place unhoused Angelenos in every hotel with our guests,” Grossman said. “Notwithstanding Local 11’s public statements, it’s clear the union is not focused, as it should be, on our employees’ concerns. We hope that Local 11 will listen to what our employees are saying: meet, get back to real bargaining and focus on issues that employees really care about.”

Hotel Association of Los Angeles spokesperson Pete Hillan said negotiations have also been stymied by the union’s demands for a 7% tax on hotel guests to be used for political activities, and for vouchers for unhoused people to stay at unionized hotels. These demands are not included in normal discussions of wages and benefits, Hillan said.

“That would be a good thing,” Aleman said, referring to the demands for a hotel guest tax and housing vouchers. “In Beverly Hills there are a lot of rich people, and a lot of times their own hotel workers are unhoused.”

So far, only one unionized hotel, the Westin Bonaventure Los Angeles, downtown, has reached an agreement, according to the union.

Aleman also said union members will remain committed to the strike, even if it cuts into their paychecks.

“The ones that are struggling are us, the workers,” Aleman said. “We are one paycheck away from being unhoused, we are fighting for better things.”