Why it matters
Workers across Southern California in a range of industries have threatened to strike or quit their jobs in recent months, showing an unusual level of solidarity with other unions fighting for higher wages and better working conditions.
Dockers disrupted operations at the massive ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for weeks before reaching a tentative settlement in June. And for about two months, screenwriters have been demonstrating in front of the gates of the Hollywood studios.
Hugo Soto-Martinez, a Los Angeles City Council member who worked as an organizer for Unite Here Local 11, said the multitude of industries involved in labor disputes shows frustration, especially among younger workers who have witnessed how inequality widens and opportunities dwindle.
“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 tourist season kicks off, and union leaders are hoping to capitalize on this momentum.
Tourism in the city last year hit its highest level since the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. Around 46 million people attended the show, and in 2022 the company had total sales of $34.5 billion, up 91 percent of the 2019 record.
But for many workers, like Diana Rios-Sanchez, who works as a homemaker at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, pay hasn’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, an east Los Angeles neighborhood, can afford to stay in town.
“All we do in hotels is work and work and make do with very little,” Ms. Rios-Sanchez said. “We take care of the tourists, but no one takes care of us.”
Business groups say that simply demanding that employers pay workers more does not solve the much deeper problems that have led to the sky-high cost of living in California.
background
The union has been negotiating a new contract since April. In June, members agreed to go on strike.
The group has called for hourly wages, which are now $20 and $25 for housekeepers, to increase immediately by $5, followed by increases of $3 for each additional year of a three-year contract.
In contrast, Mr. Grossman said in the statement that the hotels offered to increase the wage for housekeepers, who currently earn $25 an hour in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles, to over $31 an hour by January 2027 increase hour.
On Thursday, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, a large hotel in downtown Los Angeles, announced that it had signed a collective bargaining agreement to prevent its workers from going on strike.
The agreements reached this year will set salary levels in anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games, which are expected to result in huge tourist draws to the region.
What’s next
Mr Petersen said on Sunday the strike would last “several days”. The Hotel Association of Los Angeles said in a statement that hotels could continue to serve visitors.
Anna Betts contributed to the coverage.