LOS ANGELES: Thousands of Los Angeles-area hotel workers went on strike on Sunday demanding pay hikes and improved benefits in a region where high housing costs make it difficult for low-wage earners to live close to where they hold jobs, union officials said.
Hotel workers, including housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks, waiters, bellhops and front-desk agents, struggle to afford housing in cities where they work, and many were idled during the COVID-19 pandemic while industry profits soared, the union said in a statement. Several thousand workers walked off the job starting Sunday morning at about a dozen hotels, and the numbers are expected to grow as the strike wears on, union spokesperson Maria Hernandez said.
The union reached a contract deal on Friday with the largest of its employers, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown LA, averting a strike against that property, Hernandez said. Both the union and management said the hotel group has countered by proposing wage hikes of US$2.50 an hour in the first 12 months and US$6.25 over four years for most workers. Wages for housekeepers in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles who currently earn US$25 an hour would rise 10 per cent next year and to more than US$31 by 2027, under the industry's offer.