Labor unrest erupted at two Southland locations Wednesday, Feb. 14 as LAX food and beverage workers launched a three-day strike over wage concerns, and LA Grand Hotel workers also walked off the job, demanding higher wages and increased staffing.
The actions highlight a wave of union activity that has swept Southern California in recent years as employees at restaurants, hotels and healthcare facilities rally for wages allowing them to keep pace with the region’s soaring housing costs.
The LA Grand’s 40 cooks, housekeepers, dishwashers and other hotel workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 earn a minimum wage of $20 to $25 an hour, depending on the job and tenure.
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They’re also seeking increased security as the hotel provides vacant rooms to the homeless through the city’s new Inside Safe program, which is aimed at getting people off the streets and into transitional housing.
Unite Here President Kurt Petersen said additional protection is needed.
“For more than a year, they have been asking the city and the operator to protect hotel workers facing dangerous working conditions inside their workplace and violence on the picket line,” Petersen said in a statement.
Other hotel strikes: Workers at Southern California hotels walk off job as others reach accord
Workers at the hotel previously walked off the job in August, claiming management unfairly disciplined a housekeeper for voicing safety concerns during a staff meeting.
Unite Here-represented workers across Southern California have been involved in the largest hotel strike in U.S. history. The action involving 60 hotels began in July 2023 with 34 reaching tentative labor agreements with the union.
But some, including the LA Grand, have held out. The workers’ contract expired in June 2023.
On Wednesday, LA Grand employees rallied outside city hall with dozens of tents and shirts on clotheslines….
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