Worker strikes hit more hotels, this time near Disneyland
Hundreds of workers at four hotels, including two near Disneyland, walked off the job Tuesday, joining a second wave of strikes that kicked off this week.
Starting at 5 a.m., workers from the Hilton Anaheim, the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort, the Hilton Irvine in Orange County and the Hyatt Regency near Los Angeles International Airport walked out, demanding higher pay and better benefits. The action comes a day after thousands of workers at eight hotels near LAX also walked off the job.
Hotel workers stationed outside the Anaheim hotels carried picket signs as Disneyland tourists wearing mouse ears bustled by. Several pickets lined up along nearby Convention Way, sounding bullhorn chants and beating drums.
After contracts expired June 30, Unite Here Local 11-represented workers at more than 60 hotels authorized what could be the largest U.S. strike for the industry in recent memory. Not all hotel workers have walked out, per a strategic rollout decision made by union leadership.
The union represents 32,000 workers in the industry in Southern California and Arizona and has been negotiating a new contract since April. The union has proposed an immediate $5 hourly wage increase and $3-an-hour boost for each of the remaining two years of their three-year contract.
Keith Grossman, an attorney with Hirschfeld Kraemer, one of two firms representing a coalition of 44 Southern California hotels, has said the group has offered meaningful wage increases, proposing raises of $2.50 an hour in the first 12 months and $6.25 over four years. Grossman said the union has yet to respond to this proposal.
Thousands of workers at hotels near the Los Angeles International Airport area walked off the job in a second wave of rolling strikes.
“Hotel workers across Santa Monica, DTLA, LAX, to Beverly Hills, Anaheim, and Irvine are more united than ever to fight for a contract that allows them to live in the city where they work,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, in a written statement.
The walkouts this week come after a three-day strike hit hotels in downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Orange County over the busy Fourth of July weekend.
Cecilia Hernandez, 52, lives in Anaheim with her three children and husband and has worked in housekeeping at the Sheraton Park Hotel for 23 years. About a year and a half ago, she was diagnosed with throat cancer.
“It’s difficult because it’s something that changes your whole way of life. There are days you can’t get up. You can’t eat. It affects your immune system and your entire family environment,” said Hernandez, who wants to ensure that her health insurance costs stay low for her radiation treatments.
The walkout by Local 11 of Unite Here is affecting about 20 hotels. Although they are staying open, their guests can expect the hotels to be noisier and possibly trim the amenities.
In a brief speech to striking workers outside the Sheraton Park Hotel, Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento spoke about his time as Santa Ana mayor.
“I saw people who couldn’t make rent have to live with two or three other families in one place,” he said. “I want you to know that we understand your struggle.”
Across the street, a union chant leader belted, “Hilton, escucha, el pueblo en la lucha!” (“Hilton, listen up, the community is rising up”).
For Elizabeth Galindo, 49, a room attendant at the Hilton Anaheim, wages are the key issue, as she says she doesn’t earn enough to make ends meet as a single mother renting an apartment in the city for $2,500 a month. For extra cash, she picks up part-time shifts as a janitor at an apartment complex.
She said staff shortages at the Hilton are commonplace even as tourism in Anaheim has rebounded after the onset of the pandemic. “Last summer, we had to work six days a week, at times, because we didn’t have enough people,” Galindo said. “This year, the Hilton sees we still have a shortage and they haven’t done anything about it.”
Ada Briceño, Susan Minato and Kurt Petersen are co-presidents of Unite Here Local 11. It’s believed to be the only such power-sharing arrangement in U.S. labor history.
Nigel Cannon, a tourist on vacation from Scotland, watched the picketers march in circles in front of the Anaheim Hilton as he waited for an Uber to take him and his family to Disneyland.
“I sympathize with them,” Cannon said just before his driver arrived. “I assume it’s about more money, more wages. They have every right to protest as much as workers back in the U.K.”
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown L.A., the union’s biggest employer, with more than 600 workers, reached a tentative deal June 28 and is the only hotel that has averted a strike. The union has urged other employers to adopt that agreement.
Grossman said the Coordinated Bargaining Group offered the union two dates — Friday and July 18 — to resume bargaining and has received no response.
“UNITE HERE Local 11’s intransigence and unwillingness to meet is hurting our employees and continues to damage Los Angeles’s reputation with tourists,” Grossman said in a written statement Monday. “It’s clear that from Day One, Local 11 only wanted to strike and was not focused on the interests of our employees or the City.”
Southern California hotels file NLRB complaint accusing Unite Here Local 11 of unlawfully striking over non-labor issues.
According to union spokeswoman Maria Hernandez, no new bargaining sessions have been scheduled. “We’re consulting with the organizing committee to see what they want to do, but ultimately what the workers want is for them to sign the Bonaventure deal.”
Anaheim’s hotels play a significant role in housing guests who come to the city for conferences, sports entertainment and Disneyland tourism. A few weeks ago, the Anaheim Convention Center welcomed thousands of attendees and hundreds of brand exhibitors to VidCon, YouTube’s annual digital culture and creator conference. The growth in popularity of Angels baseball player Shohei Ohtani has also spiked international interest and travel from Japan to Southern California. The overall visitor economy makes up 50% to 60% of Anaheim’s annual tax revenue, through occupancy, sales and property taxes.
In a special election this October, Anaheim voters will consider a $25-an-hour minimum wage for hotel and event center workers. Hoteliers that sign contracts with Unite Here Local 11 would be eligible to apply for a waiver under the proposed ballot measure.
Three other hotels in the Disneyland area — Disney Grand Californian Hotel, Disneyland Hotel and Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel — are also members of Unite Here Local 11, but they have a separate contract that does not expire until Jan. 31, 2026.
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