Westin hotel workers to get $11.25 raise under new ‘life-changing’ contract
Workers voted unanimously to ratify the contract agreement, which also includes staffing level guarantees and a retirement plan.
After months of negotiations and a strike last month, hotel workers at the Westin Long Beach unanimously ratified a new contract that will increase their pay by 60% over the next three and a half years.
Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, announced the ratification Friday, with Westin housekeeper Juana Melara saying there were “tears of joy” at the ratification vote.
“We are so excited. We fought so hard. We picketed and struck and organized actions to show we will not stop until we get what we deserve,” Melara said in a statement. “And now we have won a life changing agreement.”
Last month, around 100 Westin workers, including room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, front desk agents, servers and others, walked off the job as negotiations dragged on. The action was one of more than 175 strikes that more than 10,000 hotel workers have held since July 2023, according to the union.
The new contract gives workers an immediate $5 per hour raise, with another $6.25 an hour by the time the contract expires on Jan. 15, 2028. In addition to what the union called a “historic” wage increase, the agreement also guarantees pre-pandemic staffing levels and mandatory daily room cleaning, one of the highest service worker pensions in the country and “unprecedented rights for immigrants” and more.
“The hotel industry repeatedly underestimated the determination and tenacity of the workers,” Unite Here Local 11 co-President Kurt Petersen said in a statement. “They tried to demoralize and divide us with firings, threats, and violence, but it has only made us stronger.”
The Westin negotiations were relatively smooth, compared to issues faced at other hotels, including the Hotel Maya across Queensway Bay. In August of last year, picketing Maya workers clashed with wedding guests and security guards, with four workers being assaulted.
In December, a Maya worker accused a hotel investor of assault while on the picket line. The man denied the allegations and in turn said he was targeted by workers in the hopes of creating a scandal.
Mayor Rex Richardson voiced concerns over what he called a “disturbing pattern of violence” at the hotel in a February letter to Maya executives.
Maya workers finalized a new contract agreement in April.
The Westin contract expires months before the 2028 Olympics, which will bring untold numbers of people to the Los Angeles region. Paris tourism officials estimate 11 million people visited the city during the most recent Games.
“We now need a New Deal for the Olympics,” Petersen said. “The current scheme is for developers, airbnb and hotels to reap enormous profits while working people shoulder the costs. That must change.”
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