Hollywood’s housekeepers and dishwashers are joining its writers on the picket lines. As the WGA hits the two-month mark of its work stoppage over a contract dispute with studios, and SAG-AFTRA is down to the wire on its decision to strike, the powerful local hospitality union UNITE HERE Local 11 has announced its own walkout.
The historic strike, the largest such labor action in the hotel industry in modern U.S. history, encompasses about 15,000 union members at more than 60 properties in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Local 11 — which bargains with hotels individually or through their corporate groups — contends the hotel sector is now profitably booming as the pandemic has eased. It’s negotiating for an immediate $5 hourly wage boost, with $3 bumps to follow annually over the course of its three-year contract, totaling $11. (Current base hourly pay is $20 for housekeepers and $22 for dishwashers and cooks.) The union cites the local housing affordability crisis, among other issues, for the urgent need for a substantive pay increase.
“Our members were devastated first by the pandemic, and now by the greed of their bosses,” Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen said in a statement issued when the strike was called. “The industry got bailouts while we got cuts. Now, the hotel negotiators decided to take a four-day holiday instead of negotiating. Shameful.”
On Sunday morning, July 2, Local 11 members had begun picketing outside downtown L.A. hotels including the JW Marriott, the InterContinental and the Biltmore. Along with Fourth of July weekend visitors, those properties are serving the ongoing Anime Expo at the nearby Los Angeles Convention Center. (That gathering drew more than 100,000 attendees in 2022.)
The union’s footprint includes a slew of high-end Los Angeles area lodgings frequented by members of the entertainment industry, whether to stay, dine, attend events including junkets, or to shoot productions. These include the Chateau Marmont, Beverly Hilton, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, Beverly Wilshire, Hyatt Andaz, W Hollywood, Fairmont Miramar and Viceroy Santa Monica. (In recent days junkets and carpet events have been on hold as the industry awaits SAG-AFTRA’s decision.)
“Based on the union’s actions, it’s clear the union is not focused on the interests of our employees and its members and is instead focused on its political agenda,” said Keith Grossman, a spokesperson for a coordinated group of more than 40 hotels negotiating with the union, in his own statement. “The union wants to strike over growing its footprint, imposing a new tax on guests at only unionized hotels as well as housing the homeless in hotels.”
The coordinated group — which represents major hotel brands including Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Accor, IHG and Highgate — claims that the union has yet to budge in negotiations from its opening demands and that it’s already offered to increase wages of $2.50 per hour in the first year and $6.25 over four years. In a separate statement, the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, an industry trade organization, noted that the sector provides work for more than 250,000 people and generates an estimated $12.5 billion in salaries each year.
In the days leading up to Local 11’s contract deadline, downtown L.A.’s iconic Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites came to an agreement with the union, on behalf of more than 600 employees, which Local 11 expects to serve as a template for deals with other area properties. While yet to be ratified, the language broadly stipulates higher wages, more affordable health insurance, increases in pension contributions, a ban on discrimination based on immigration status and other considerations. The postmodernist Westin Bonaventure, known for its cylindrical glass architecture and exterior elevators, has long been a go-to for industry location scouts, utilized onscreen in everything from Interstellar and Strange Days to L.A. Law and Alias.
The union has a symbiotic relationship with Hollywood’s labor movement. During its successful recent drive to organize A-list favorite the Chateau, it drew on the support of the WGA, DGA, IATSE, SAG AFTRA and Teamsters, including to shut down multiple high-profile production shoots at the hotel.
Since the writers strike began, Local 11 announced it would back the guild’s work stoppage by respecting any picket lines set up at its employers’ properties, thereby potentially restricting some location shooting. “Tourism and entertainment are by far Los Angeles’ most important industries,” the union’s leadership explained in a letter to its affected hotels at the time. “When workers in our industries thrive, the city thrives. And when workers in our industries are mistreated, paid inadequate wages or left with no job security, the entire city suffers. We rise or fall together.”
The WGA, entering its second month on the picket lines, said in a statement: “We are in solidarity with all workers who are willing to stand up to their employer and fight for what they deserve. Members of Unite Here Local 11 have inspired WGA members at picket lines throughout Los Angeles and we fully support their decision to strike for fair wages and benefits.”
