By: Kerry Ding

Due to a low amount of pay and very few benefits, a huge mass of hotel workers from Los Angeles walked out from their job just as the hundreds of 4th of July tourists began to leak into the city and require service.

For months, workers in the hotels have been frustrated. They have demanded higher pay and received barely anything. Now, with the 4th of July coming up, they feel they need more freedom. “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 Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, the union representing the workers. “People feel liberated, it’s Fourth of July, freedom is reigning in Los Angeles and hotel workers are leading that fight.”

However, the representatives for the southern California hotels said that the union of workers has not been demanding better pay for their rent and other necessities. But it is trying to be a disruption for the hotels. “The hotels want to continue to provide strong wages, affordable quality family health care, and a pension,” Keith Grossman, a spokesman for the coordinated bargaining group consisting of more than 40 Los Angeles and Orange County hotels, said in a statement. The groups have simply pushed these accusations aside. They have been continuing to say that the increase in income needed to live in California is just too high and that they need businesses to compensate by paying the workers more.

This strike wasn’t the only one of its kind though. It was just one of the many strikes taking place in the Los Angeles region. In this region, the costs of living can reach tens of thousands of dollars every year.

These mass protests can cause a lot of damage to the city. Many workers from many different industries are threatening to strike or stop working. For example, dockworkers have disrupted port operations for weeks. They forced the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to submit to their demands. Also, the screenwriters have been picketing, by protesting outside of Hollywood for some time now. However, it makes sense that they are protesting. According to a Los Angeles City Council member, Hugo Soto-Martinez said, “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 striking happening during the tourism season might not be a coincidence. The tourism industry for California has been booming lately but for many workers, the extra boost in pay during the tourism season hasn’t helped that much. “All we do in hotels is work and work and get by with very little,” Ms. Rios-Sanchez said. “We take care of the tourists, but no one takes care of us.”

The leaders of the protests have been trying to capitalize on the huge number of tourists to get more momentum going for the protest groups. Nonetheless, the strike would go on for many days, but the hotels would continue to serve the incoming tourists.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/us/los-angeles-hotel-workers-strike.html?searchResultPosition=1

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/us/la-schools-strike.html