Thousands of California hotel workers strike

Staff are demanding increased wages, more benefits and less strenuous workloads

Around 15,000 hotel workers are on strike in the US state of California, seeking higher wages and increased benefits, in a labor stoppage that has left hotels struggling to accommodate guests around the busy 4th of July holiday.

A union representing hotel workers in the state, UNITE HERE Local 11, said the strike, which began on Sunday, was “the largest multi-hotel strike” in its history. It added that its workers, who include bellhops, front desk agents and room attendants, are seeking “better wages, healthcare benefits, pensions and safe workloads.”

The union has also requested an immediate $5 rise in hourly wages; a move it says is necessary due to spiraling housing costs in the state. Employers, meanwhile, have criticized the labor movement, claiming it’s refusing to negotiate regarding its demands.

“Our members were devastated first by the pandemic, and now by the greed of their bosses,” Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, said in a statement. He added that “the industry got bailouts while we got cuts.” The union voted last month to authorize the strike.

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Keith Grossman, a spokesperson representing 44 of the businesses impacted by the strike, said hotels are “fully prepared to continue to operate” and will “take care of our guests as long as this disruption lasts.” Overall, the strike is affecting more than 60 hotels, and around half of the 32,000 workers the union represents in the state.

The walkout comes amid the busy 4th of July holiday celebrations in the United States. It also coincides with a major anime convention which has drawn a large contingent of visitors to Los Angeles.

In a message on its website, the union had asked guests to “not eat, sleep or meet” at the hotels involved in the strike, many of which had hired temporary workers to cover for absent staff.

The strike is the latest industrial action to affect California. In early May, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) began a strike which has impacted the television and film industry in the state and beyond. There have also been strikes which have seen a Los Angeles school district shut down for three days following complaints by workers including bus drivers and custodians, and schoolteachers in Oakland.

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