The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE) Local 814 is in an organizing drive at the luxury Loews Hotel after recently winning union certification of workers at the nearby Fairmont Miramar hotel.

"We need a living wage, not a minimum wage," chanted some 150 protesters who marched June 27 in support of unionization at Loews. The action attracted other HERE members, community activists from Santa Monicans for Responsible Tourism, high school students, and a handful of students from Santa Monica Community College.

Vera Miranda, who has worked at Loews for 11 years, told the protesters, "We want the right to organize freely without harassment. The contract at Miramar inspired us to fight to get the same wages, benefits, and job security. But when we launched the public organizing campaign on May 25, Loews hired a special security force, and a notorious union-busting labor firm, Cruz and Associates, to break our efforts to organize the nearly 400 workers. We will not be intimidated."

Julio Aviles, a HERE Local 11 member from a different hotel, said, "I am here because I know the benefits of a union. I've worked 14 years at union hotels. We need to organize Loews and the others."

The Santa Monica City Council has been considering a "living wage" ordinance that would require hotels to double wages paid to about 3,000 hotel workers. The proposal for the pay raise would increase the minimum wage to about $10.69 an hour for workers who currently receive $6.50–$8.00 an hour. Hotels, backed by local businesses, are fighting this with their own ballot proposal.

In another development, home care workers, more than 72,000 of whom work in Los Angeles County, have been demonstrating for wage increases and medical benefits. Last year they joined Service Employees International Union Local 434B. About 300 protested in downtown Los Angeles June 27 with their "Invisible No More" T-shirts. They currently earn $6.25 an hour with no benefits. Nearly 85 percent of home-care workers are African American and Latina women. Representatives from 20 community groups joined the rally.

Mark Friedman is a member of the International Association of Machinists Local 2785 at Los Angeles International Airport.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home