The nation’s largest hotel strike expanded Monday July 24 as cooks, housekeepers, bellmen and others from The Beverly Hilton and other area hotels took to the streets to call for higher wages, “safe and humane workloads” and preservation of their healthcare benefits.
The employees, represented by Unite Here Local 11, have dug in their heels in recent weeks, with several thousand workers at 43 Southern California hotels participating in the walkout. Their labor contract expired June 30.
The union claims the hotel’s latest offer — led by Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott — doesn’t include “one penny more for wages, pension or healthcare.”
However, the Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents the Los Angeles and Orange County-area hotels negotiating with Unite Here, offered a wage proposal last week that would give workers a $2-an-hour increase once a labor contract is ratified, followed by a $1-an-hour hike on July 1, 2024.
Pete Hillan, a spokesman for the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, said the latest round of labor negotiations on July 18 were’t productive. Kurt Peterson, Unite Here’s co-president, walked away from the table, Hillan said, despite the hotel’s latest offer.
The union is seeking an immediate $5-hourly wage increase for all hotel workers, regardless of their current pay level. Unite Here also wants the hotels to continue providing family healthcare coverage for employees, and it’s seeking upgrades to their pension plan as well as reasonable workloads.
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