Hot labor summer, by the numbers

Good morning and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, Sept. 1.

Monday is Labor Day, and we are still in the heat of L.A.’s “hot labor summer.”

Hotel workers in downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica are currently striking as a political science convention goes on. Actors and screenwriters are picketing across studios in Los Angeles and New York City. Lifeguards, sanitation workers, traffic officers and nurses have walked out as they advocate for adequate staffing.

Approximately 300,000 workers have caused work stoppages nationwide this year so far, according to the Cornell Labor Action Tracker.

Nationally, labor action has returned to pre-pandemic levels, as my colleague Sam Dean found. While union density across the country is not higher than previous decades when manufacturing jobs were more abundant, as per a study by NPR’s Planet Money, these strikes feel significant for workers. The cost of living and corporate profits have gone up since 2020. Many workers are negotiating their first contracts since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-union solidarity is in.

Here are some of the numbers that stand out:

About 60 sites across Southern California are affected by the hotel workers’ strike. Only one hotel has reached a bargaining agreement.

Tourists visiting Disneyland, the Anime Expo and the L.A. leg of Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour have been greeted outside their hotels again and again by picketing workers represented by Unite Here Local 11. Tensions have flared between guests and workers.

Since the July 4 weekend, hotel workers have walked out in rounds, seeking higher pay and improved benefits.

Only the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles averted a strike, reaching a tentative agreement with the union before June 30. This agreement only covered about 600 hotel workers out of more than 15,000 members in the union.

The union has called for a boycott of hotels that have not yet reached a contract.

It’s been more than 120 days since the writers’ strike began on May 2, and economists estimate the financial toll, including lost compensation, at more than $3 billion.

And there is no end in sight. The previous record for the longest writers’ strike was in 1988, when a work stoppage lasted for more than 22 weeks. This year, SAG-AFTRA members joined in solidarity in mid-July.

There have been two bargaining sessions since these strikes began, but no breakthroughs.

Hotels and Unite Here Local 11 resumed bargaining on July 18, a meeting that ended with disagreement over a new wage proposal. Another area of tension relates to housing initiatives: The union has asked hotels to publicly endorse a measure set for the 2024 ballot that would require hotels in Los Angeles to rent vacant rooms to unhoused people.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America resumed negotiations on Aug. 11 with little success. The AMPTP publicly released its counter offer on Aug. 22 to pressure WGA leaders to return to the bargaining table. For now, WGA and SAG-AFTRA are still not budging, calling on the studios to make concessions and pointing to high studio executive compensation.

At least seven films announced adjusted release dates.

Highly anticipated films such as “Dune 2,” a “Ghostbusters” sequel, “Spider-verse,” Marvel and “Avatar” films pushed back their release dates. As we near the fourth quarter, Warner Bros., Sony and Disney may also look to adjust their lineups even further. Fox has postponed the Daytime Emmy awards to January, and soon Oscars campaign season may be affected as well because SAG-AFTRA actors cannot promote their work.

Nearly 3 out of every 4 Americans are aware of the Hollywood strikes.

According to a survey conducted by The Times and Leger, a Canadian-based polling firm, nearly 3 out of 4 Americans surveyed said they were aware of the strike and 60% said they were at least “somewhat aware” of the issues in the dispute.

As for their sympathies, 38% of respondents sided with actors and writers, while just 7% sympathized more with the studios.

But the largest share of respondents were ambivalent or unsure — 29% agreed with both sides, and 25% said they didn’t know how they felt.

Amid a push for pay increases, California renters need to make $42.25 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental unit.

This is the highest figure in the nation, according to a new study. The mean hourly wage for California renters, by contrast, is only $33.67.

From hotel workers to actors, many have expressed the rise in the cost of living as part of their fight for higher wages and increased residuals.

In other strike news:

• UPS’ Teamsters reached a tentative agreement, avoiding a nationwide delivery shutdown.
• Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers are pondering a possible strike that would start in October.
• Striking Los Angeles hotel workers threaten “dirty rooms and nonstop noise” at downtown conference
• California Treasurer Fiona Ma calls on Hollywood studios to end writers’ and actors’ strikes

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

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L.A. STORIES

Do you have $36,000 to spare? Lionel Messi is coming to play in Los Angeles, and tickets on StubHub were selling for at least $450 on Wednesday afternoon before climbing to $504 a few hours later. One pair of seats close to the field were listed at more than $36,000. (A ticket to an average game typically costs $95.) Los Angeles Times

It’s still hot! Just ask food vendors. Those who depend on cooking and selling food out of hot kitchens on wheels can’t exactly stop working during heat waves — they need to earn a living, rain or shine. LAist

More on food vendors: 130 years ago, a Los Angeles tamale vendor was robbed. How times haven’t changed, writes Gustavo Arellano. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Immigrants from Muslim-majority countries are a tiny percentage of border crossers. But in one Texas judicial district, they made up more than half of those prosecuted under an obscure law. Los Angeles Times

Weeks from a possible government shutdown, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is freezing up in public. That’s not a good sign, David Lauter writes. Los Angeles Times

Scientists on strike! Roughly 200 members of the California Assn. of Professional Scientists marched Wednesday afternoon to the Capitol’s west steps in Sacramento. Sacramento Bee

CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING

In California, where lawmakers and voters have embraced many progressive changes to the criminal justice system, scaling back the use of solitary confinement has proved difficult. Some elected officials, including the governor, suggest it could lead to increased violence behind bars. Los Angeles Times

EDUCATION

In a groundbreaking step, Caltech announced Thursday that it will drop admission requirements for calculus, physics and chemistry courses for students who don’t have access to them and offer alternative paths to prove mastery of the material. Los Angeles Times

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Heat-related illnesses and deaths in California and the U.S. are on the rise along with temperatures, and an increase in drug use and homelessness is a significant part of the problem. KFF Health News

Considering a Tough Mudder race? They did it, and they have the unexpected bacterial infections to prove it. Los Angeles Times

California’s wildland firefighters are being poisoned by smoke. We’re doing little to protect them. San Francisco Chronicle

AND FINALLY

Today’s California landmark is from Elyse Jankowski of Los Angeles: Sunset Beach in Pacific Palisades.

Sunset Beach at sunset.

(Elyse Jankowski)

Elyse writes:

What are California’s essential landmarks? Fill out this form to send us your photos of a special spot in California — natural or human-made. Tell us why it’s interesting and what makes it a symbol of life in the Golden State. Please be sure to include only photos taken directly by you. Your submission could be featured in a future edition of the newsletter.

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