Workers at the LA Grand Hotel walked off the job Wednesday, Aug. 2, claiming management unfairly disciplined a housekeeper for voicing safety concerns during a recent staff meeting.
The hotel at 333 S. Figueroa St. is a key site for Project Roomkey, a Los Angeles program that provides temporary housing to the homeless. Employees have expressed concerns regarding their interactions with homeless guests.
The hotel’s 40 workers are represented by Unite Here Local 11, which filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on July 17. The union contends management criticized Maribel Fajardo and gave her a warning for not raising her issues privately.
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Workers have a right under federal labor law to collectively raise workplace concerns with management without interference or retaliation, union officials said.
“They curtailed her speech,” Unite Here co-President Kurt Petersen said. “You don’t lose your right to talk about safety issues when you walk into a workplace — particularly when that workplace has a contract with the city.”
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Fajardo and other workers at the LA Grand want to ensure there is security onsite when problems arise with unruly guests.
Petersen said the hotel workers plan to continue the walkout until management stops threatening employees who speak out on security issues.
Pete Hillan, a spokesman for the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, said he’s at a loss to understand why the union staged a walkout.
“For them to walk away from serving the needs of LA’s homeless population is unbelievable,” he said.
Hotel employees say their concerns are very real.
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Fajardo, who has worked at the LA Grand for 25 years, cited a recent incident that occurred when she was cleaning a room occupied by a homeless woman.
“I said, ‘you can’t be in here when I’m cleaning,’ ” the 41-year-old Los Angeles resident said. “Then another homeless man came in. It was just very uncomfortable … there was no one in the hall to protect me.”
Fajardo cited another incident when a homeless woman accosted a co-worker, screaming, ‘You shouldn’t be here — you should be out on strike!’ “
The LA Grand is one of 43 Unite Here-represented hotels that have waged a strike in recent weeks as employees lobby for higher wages so they can afford to live in Los Angeles amid the region’s rising housing costs.
Workers at the LA Grand staged a walkout over the July 4th holiday weekend.
Unite Here is seeking an immediate $5-hourly wage increase for all of its hotel workers. It additionally wants the hotels to continue providing family healthcare coverage for employees, and it’s seeking upgrades to its pension plan as well as “safe and humane” workloads.
The Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents the Los Angeles and Orange County-area hotels negotiating with Unite Here, offered a recent wage proposal that would give workers a $2-an-hour increase once a labor contract is ratified, followed by a $1-an-hour hike on July 1, 2024.
Unite Here also wants to establish a fund to help pay for the construction of affordable housing for hotel workers who are struggling amid rising rents and mortgages.
The fund would be supported through a 7% tax on hotel guests, replacing the “junk fees” they currently pay for wireless service and other amenities, union officials said.
The nation’s largest hotel strike expanded July 24 as cooks, housekeepers, bellmen and others from The Beverly Hilton and other area hotels took to the streets.
“The union should focus on what the employees want and negotiate an agreement rather than calling for boycotts and work stoppages that only hurt employees,” said Keith Grossman, the bargaining group’s spokesman.
Source: Orange County Register
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