LOS ANGELES – Thousands of hotel workers in Southern California walked off the job on Sunday demanding higher pay and better benefits, just as hordes of tourists descended on the region“Workers have been pent-up and frustrated and angry about what’s happened during the pandemic combined with the inability to pay their rent and stay in Los Angeles,” said Mr Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, the union representing the workers.
“The hotels want to continue to provide strong wages, affordable quality family health care and a pension,” Mr Keith Grossman, a spokesman for the coordinated bargaining group consisting of more than 40 Los Angeles and Orange County hotels, said in a statement. “It’s homelessness, it’s the cost of housing,” he said. “I think people are understanding those issues in a much more palpable way.”The hotel workers’ strike comes just as the summer tourism season ramps up, and labour leaders say they are hoping to capitalise on that momentum.
But for many workers such as Ms Diana Rios-Sanchez, who works as a housekeeping supervisor at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, the pay has not helped to keep up with inflation. Business groups say that simply demanding that employers pay workers more does not address the much-deeper problems that have led to sky-high costs of living in California.The union has been negotiating since April for a new contract. In June, members approved a strike.