Southern California hotel workers return to work after three-day strike

After a three-day strike over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, thousands of Southern California hotel service workers returned to work on Wednesday.

Unite Here Local 11 union said the work stoppage represents the beginning of their movements to achieve better wages and benefits, so they left open the possibility that more strikes could break out in the future.

Union representatives mentioned that protests by hotel workers at authorized strike locations will continue.

Of the 19 hotels that were affected by the strike, three days, all but one welcomed the return of the workers to their work on Wednesday. The Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica temporarily blocked employees from returning, Unite Here Local 11 said.

At the last minute on Friday, June 30, contracts at 61 Southern California hotels with workers represented by the Unite Here Local 11 union expired. To renew the contract, the union has not changed its demands presented in negotiations since April, with an immediate wage increase of $5 per hour and an annual increase of $3 for three years.

The union considered that the salary increase is necessary due to the increase in housing rents, which pushed workers the need to change residence to find more affordable houses or apartments.

At the height of the Independence Day holiday weekend, the workers' strike began Sunday morning at hotels like the Intercontinental , Biltmore and JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles.

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, the union's largest employer with more than 600 employees and located in downtown Los Angeles, reached a tentative agreement June 28, averting a work stoppage.

This Wednesday, by Through their lawyers, the coalition of more than 40 hotels involved in the negotiations urged the union to return to negotiations in an email.

According to union representatives, at the moment there is no date to resume negotiations and they said that some of the hotels involved could sign an agreement similar to the one reached with the Bonaventure.

Workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 at more than 60 Southern California hotels are authorized to strike again in any time.

“It's a strategic decision about where we're going to act next and a lot of factors come into play,” Unite Here Local 11 co-chair Kurt Petersen said earlier this week, according to the Los Angeles Times.

According to the union, the July 4 holiday weekend and an anime convention in downtown Los Angeles were factors in deciding to go on strike for three days at several of the hotels.

This Tuesday, hundreds of workers marched in protest from the Intercontinental Hotel to the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles. Speakers from City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martínez was present at the demonstration.

“I know strikes can be hard sometimes, but when I'm here, I always think to myself: Why am I here? on strike? We are fighting for the future of our children, for stability and for respect. We are the ones who earn that money and deserve more of that piece of the pie”, expressed Soto-Martínez in his participation during the rally.

In a statement, the Unite Here Local 11 co-chair said the three-day walkout was just the first of many actions that may take place over the course of the summer by Southern California hotel workers.