From today’s The Guardian:
ast year was a big year for the US labor movement with historic wins and gains for workers at UPS, automakers, and for writers and actors in Hollywood. But for thousands of hotel workers, the majority of whom are Latina women from immigrant communities, their fight has continued into 2024 without garnering the same amount of public attention.
California’s hotel workers have led one of the biggest strike waves to ever hit the US hotel industry to secure wage increases they say they need to afford to live in the areas where they work. Their actions coincided with the “hot labor summer” that saw ultimately successful union campaigns from Hollywood writers, actors and others.
Thousands of hotel workers throughout southern California have gone on strike over 100 times since last July in demand of new union contracts with workers seeking historic wage increases, benefits, and protections commensurate with the intense workloads and issues hotel workers have experienced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They’ve utilized similar tactics to the United Auto Workers’ successful “Stand-Up” strike strategy – staggering short-term strike actions against targeted hotels rather than an all-out walkout.
Twenty-eight hotels throughout southern California have reached agreements with Unite Here Local 11 so far, but a handful of hotels are still holding out from agreeing to similar contracts, including the Doubletree DTLA, Doubletree San Pedro, Sheraton Park Anaheim, Holiday Inn LAX, Santa Monica Hampton Inn, Santa Monica Courtyard Marriott, Hilton Pasadena, the Blackstone-owned Aloft, Fairfield El Segundo, Hotel Maya, Hyatt Place Pasadena and the Hyatt Regency at Los Angeles international airport.
The workers, represented by Unite Here Local 11, have been engaging in picket protests, strikes and launching boycotts to pressure the remaining hotels to agree to new contracts with the workers.
Read the complete story here.