LOS ANGELES — Amid tense negotiations over new contracts for thousands of local hotel housekeepers, receptionists and cooks, a group of Southern California hotels filed an unfair labor practice charge accusing Unite Here Local 11 of striking over policy proposals that have “nothing to do” with the employees it represents.
The group has taken issue specifically with the union’s demands that hotels support housing initiatives, both politically and materially. In negotiations, 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 union has also urged hotels to agree to impose a 7% fee on all guest room sales to create a new fund that would assist hospitality workers in obtaining affordable housing.
Keith Grossman, an attorney with Hirschfeld Kraemer, one of two firms representing the hotel coalition, said in an emailed statement Thursday that pushing for such provisions to be included in a contract settlement and striking over them is “not only unlawful, but it is also a real obstacle to reaching agreement on a contract.”
