Los Angeles hotel workers go on strike

Why it matters

Workers across Southern California in a variety of industries have threatened to strike or walk off the job in recent months, showing unusual solidarity with other unions as they push for higher wages and better working conditions.

Dock workers disrupted operations for weeks at the colossal ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach until they reached a tentative agreement in June. And screenwriters have been hanging out outside the gates of Hollywood studios for about two months.

Hugo Soto-Martinez, a Los Angeles City Councilman who worked as an organizer for Unite Here Local 1[ads1]1, said the breadth of industries locked in labor struggles showed frustration especially among younger workers, who have seen inequality rise and opportunities disappear.

“It’s homelessness, it’s the cost of housing,” he said. “I think people understand these issues in a much more tangible way.”

The hotel workers’ strike comes just as the summer tourism season ramps up, and labor leaders say they hope to capitalize on that momentum.

Last year, tourism in the city reached its highest levels since the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. About 46 million people visited, and there were $34.5 billion in total business sales in 2022, reaching 91 percent of the record set in 2019.

But for many workers like Diana Rios-Sanchez, who works as a housekeeping supervisor at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, wages haven’t helped keep up with inflation.

She often wonders how long she and her three children, who live in a one-bedroom apartment in El Sereno, a neighborhood on the east side of Los Angeles, can afford to stay in the city.

“All we do in hotels is work and work and get by on very little,” Rios-Sanchez said. “We take care of the tourists, but no one takes care of us.”

Business groups say simply requiring employers to pay workers more doesn’t solve the much deeper problems that have led to California’s skyrocketing cost of living.

Background

The trade union has been negotiating a new contract since April. In June, the members approved a strike.

The group has called for hourly wages, now $20 and $25 for housekeepers, to be immediately raised by $5, followed by $3 increments in each subsequent year of a three-year contract.

By contrast, Mr. Grossman said in the statement that the hotels had offered to raise wages for housekeepers who currently earn $25 an hour in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles to more than $31 an hour by January 2027.

On Thursday, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, a large hotel in downtown Los Angeles, announced it had axed the workers with a contract settlement.

Agreements struck this year will set wage levels ahead of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics, which are expected to be huge tourist draws to the region.

What will be next

Petersen said on Sunday that the strike would last for “several days”. The Hotel Association of Los Angeles had said in a statement that the hotels would be able to continue serving visitors.

Anna Betts contributed reporting.