UNITE HERE Local 11: Westin Long Beach Workers Unanimously Ratify Contract with $11.25 Increase, Raising Wages by 60% in 3.5 Years
August 30 2024 - 9:25PM
Business Wire
Strike continues at Cameo Beverly Hills and
Hilton Garden Inn El Segundo
On the eve of Labor Day, UNITE HERE Local 11 notched another
victory in the nation’s largest hotel strike. Workers at the Westin
Long Beach unanimously ratified their new contract. Under the new
agreement, workers will receive an immediate $5 an hour raise and
another $6.25 an hour over 3.5 years, amounting to total wage
increases of $11.25 an hour, with wages increasing by 60% during
the contract. The contract will expire on January 15, 2028, months
before the Olympics arrive in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Since July 2023, 10,000 workers have struck more than 175 times,
from Arizona to Anaheim to Los Angeles and Long Beach. The contract
transfers more than $1 billion from the hotel industry to hotel
workers.
“We are so excited. We fought so hard. We picketed and struck
and organized actions to show we will not stop until we get what we
deserve. And now we have won a life changing agreement. There were
lots of tears of joy at our ratification vote,” said Juana Melara,
housekeeper at Westin Long Beach.
“The hotel industry repeatedly underestimated the determination
and tenacity of the workers. They tried to demoralize and divide us
with firings, threats, and violence, but it has only made us
stronger,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11.
“We now need a New Deal for the Olympics. The current scheme is for
developers, airbnb and hotels to reap enormous profits while
working people shoulder the costs. Our members have shown they will
do whatever it takes to ensure the Olympics lift up working
people.”
Hotel workers at 73 hotels have now ratified new agreements. It
contains the largest economic increase of any industry in recent
labor history. The agreement transforms hotel jobs into
family-sustaining professional positions. In addition to the
historic wage increase, Westin workers won:
- Guaranteed pre-pandemic staffing levels and mandatory daily
room cleaning
- One of the nation’s highest pensions for service workers
- 50 pages of improvements, including Juneteenth as a paid
holiday and unprecedented rights for immigrants and workers
impacted by the carceral system
The fight continues at Cameo Beverly Hills and Hilton Garden Inn
in El Segundo.
UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union
representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern
California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants,
universities, convention centers and airports.
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Maria Hernandez | 623-340-8047 | mhernandez@unitehere11.org