Seven New Hotels, Including Hotel Maya Long Beach, Sign with UNITE HERE Local 11, Raising the Total to 41 Agreements
April 23 2024 - 9:41PM
Business Wire
Recalcitrant Aimbridge Hospitality, Hotel
Figueroa remain focal points of continued bitter labor disputes
Following the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Hotel Maya Long
Beach has signed a tentative contract agreement. In the past week,
the Hyatt Place Pasadena, Proper Santa Monica, Proper Downtown Los
Angeles, Westdrift Manhattan Beach, Hotel June West LA, and Alsace
Hotel also signed the historic accord.
UNITE HERE Local 11 and Hotel Maya issued this statement: “The
Hotel Maya and UNITE HERE Local 11 are pleased to announce we have
reached a fair settlement of our dispute. The settlement includes a
commitment from all parties to engage in a good-faith
reconciliation process.”
The seven new agreements come at the heels of overwhelming
ratification votes at 34 hotels, for a total of 41 settled
contracts.
More than 10,000 workers at 52 hotels have struck 170 times so
far in the largest strike in the history of the nation’s
hospitality industry. Workers at five hotels struck last week and
several more are set to go out this week.
The new contract has the largest economic increases of any
industry-wide contract in the last 30 years.
- $5.00 an hour raise in the first year; workers will have
$10,400 more to pay for rent, to feed their families
- 40 to 50% wage increases for non tipped workers over the 4.5
year term of the agreement
- Most room attendants will earn $35.00 an hour by July 1,
2027
- Guaranteed pre-pandemic staffing levels and mandatory daily
room cleaning
- One of the highest paid pension plans for service workers in
nation
- 50 pages of improvements, including Juneteenth as a paid
holiday, unprecedented language for the fair treatment of workers
impacted by the criminal justice system and protections of
immigrant rights.
The contract will expire January 15, 2028, just before the world
turns its attention on Los Angeles for the XXXIV Olympiad.
The membership has resolved to continue organizing and
campaigning until all hotels, including the Hotel Figueroa, all of
the boycotted Aimbridge properties like the Doubletree Downtown Los
Angeles, and the LA Grand, the site of the city-operated Inside
Safe Program.
“My coworkers and I dealt with unthinkable violence to get to
this point. We are proud that we never gave up, and we look forward
to having the same standard raising benefits and protections other
hotel workers now enjoy,” said Camila Delgado, Housekeeper at Hotel
Maya.
“The workers at the Maya and the newly settled hotels are
heroes. Despite living precariously close to being unhoused, they
struck without pay to win a living wage,” said Kurt Petersen,
co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “They have not only won a life
changing agreement - an unprecedented $5.00 an hour in the 1st year
- but they have given hope to all working people that when you
fight, you win. It is time for the greedy few who remain –
including Hotel Figueroa and private equity titans Blackstone and
Aimbridge – to sign a fair contract.”
“Congratulations to members of UNITE HERE Local 11 and Hotel
Maya Long Beach on reaching a historic contract agreement that
ensures hospitality workers will have the dignity of living wages
and industry-leading benefits to support their families,” said
Mayor Rex Richardson. “Over the next four years, as we prepare for
the 2028 Olympics and welcome visitors from around the world to our
vibrant Long Beach community, we can be proud that our local
tourism economy continues to thrive, while placing value on the
workforce that keeps our hospitality industry running.”
UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union
representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern
California and Arizona that work in hotels, restaurants,
universities, convention centers and airports
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240423247171/en/
Maria Hernandez | 623-340-8047 | mhernandez@unitehere11.org