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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - While hotel workers Friday continued to "occupy" a portion of the sidewalk outside City Hall as part of a three-day strike to demand increased staffing and better wages, union officials said they plan to maintain a presence there.
Friday marked the third day that hotel workers, including some from the L.A. Grand Hotel, and represented by labor union Unite Here Local 11, took their efforts to the doors of L.A. City leaders. Workers are asking the city to take responsibility for what they call an "untenable situation" at the hotel and working with their employer, Shen Zhen New World LLC.
The workers are also demanding that the city address violence workers have allegedly endured on strike lines at the hands of hotel security personnel, who they say were hired by the city.
They are also asking for an increase to the minimum wage for hotel workers.
The L.A. Grand operates as part of Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe initiative, providing vacant rooms to unhoused Angelenos, as well.
City officials said if a member of Unite Here Local 11 doesn't feel safe or doesn't want to clean a room, they don't have to. The contracted service provider will take care of it.
"The work we do at L.A. Grand is extremely difficult," Ana Pineda, a housekeeper at the hotel for 17 years, said in a statement. "In order for work to be sustainable, we need the company and the city to increase staffing levels."
Zach Seidl, Bass' deputy mayor of communications, said in a statement that the "The Grand houses hundreds of the most vulnerable Angelenos and our office will continue to do all we can to save lives and ensure workers are treated fairly."
Labor union officials say they want the city to intervene and mediate on their behalf with the owner to address staffing levels and to overall improve working conditions.
In May 2023, Shen Zhen New World was fined $4 million and placed on five years probation following the company's conviction on fraud and bribery charges connected to allegations the company's fugitive owner, Wei Huang, provided bribes topping more than $1 million to then-L.A. City Councilman José Huizar in a bid to obtain city approval to build a skyscraper at the L.A. Grand site.
Workers at hotels across the Southland have been on strike since July 2023 amid labor disputes with various hotel owners. About 34 tentative contract agreements with individual hotel owners have been reached in L.A. and Orange counties, but some hotels such as the L.A. Grand have held out, according to Unite Here Local 11.
The workers' overall contract goals include wage increases to keep pace with the soaring cost of housing in Los Angeles, quality and affordable health insurance, a pension to retire with dignity and humane workloads, union officials said.
L.A. Grand hotel workers' contract expired in June 2023, but they remained on the job holding out for improved conditions.