This article was co-produced and co-published with Capital & Main, an award-winning publication that reports from California on economic, political, and social issues.
The recently announced agreement on a new contract for hotel workers at the downtown Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles was only one deal, but it mattered. It has raised hopes among union members for favorable outcomes with the nearly 60 other area hotels where they work — and where they have authorized summer strikes, including the new wave of walkouts that began in the early hours of July 10.
The Bonaventure, after all, is the biggest hotel in L.A., and its deal with UNITE HERE Local 11 covers more than 600 room attendants, cooks, servers, front desk agents, and more. Its agreement to significantly raise wages and benefits proves that “the industry can do this,” the union said in a news release. “Now it is time for other corporations to follow suit.”
But there is a larger reality at play in both Los Angeles and Orange County. The truth is that the cost of housing in the area has soared so far beyond the reach of most lower wage workers that only aggressive, sustained increases will enable them to live anywhere near where they work. And that sets the union on a crash course with hotel ownership groups for repeated, grinding negotiations.
According to UNITE HERE, most of its hotel workers earn $20 to $25 per hour. The union is seeking an immediate $5 per hour raise, plus increases of $3 per hour each year over the next three years — a $14 per hour increase over four years. A coalition negotiating for 44 of the hotels says it has offered a $2.50 per hour immediate raise and a $6.25 per hour increase over four years. (Disclosure: UNITE HERE is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.)