Dive Brief:
- Five Southern California hotels — the Sofitel Beverly Hills, Hyatt’s The Shay, Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach and Hyatt’s Andaz West Hollywood — reached tentative agreements with striking workers over the past week, according to hospitality union Unite Here.
- Once the agreements for new contracts are ratified, workers will see wage increases intended to better keep pace with the rising cost of housing and pension increases.
- The five latest agreements bring the total number of hotels to end strikes to 34. Since the multiwave, multihotel strikes began in July of last year, workers have walked out more than 130 times, according to Unite Here.
Dive Insight:
Southern California’s hotel workers have been on strike to “win a wage that allows them to live near where they work,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, in a statement. “We applaud Hyatt and Sofitel for recognizing that their workers are essential to their success.”
In December, five Hilton and nine Marriott hotels reached similar agreements with their union workers, raising wages and pension contributions.
Labor disputes, however, continue at many other hotels. Unite Here workers are currently boycotting hotels run by hospitality management company Aimbridge, in particular.
As part of their “Shamebridge” boycott, union workers have picketed outside Aimbridge-run properties to raise awareness of the lack of a new contract. The union also filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the company, alleging that it interfered with employees’ rights to engage in union activity at two hotels.
Last month, Aimbridge released a statement saying its Southern California hotels had signed “a new proposal with Unite Here” — but only Aimbridge-run hotels, not Unite Here, signed that proposal, which does not equate to a contract agreement.
