Unite Here Local 11, the union representing hotel employees in Southern California who’ve been placing on and off for almost 5 months, stated it has reached a tentative contract settlement with Le Merigot Santa Monica.
The contract will — as soon as it’s ratified — elevate wages, strengthen pensions and improve investments in healthcare for about 100 workers at Le Merigot,union spokesperson Maria Hernandez stated.
Le Merigot, a Marriott hotel, is the fifth property to achieve a deal with the union.
The first was the Westin Bonaventure, which reached a tentative deal simply as contracts have been set to run out June 30 for greater than 15,000 hotel employees at some 60 properties in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The second was the Biltmore in downtown L.A.’s monetary district, which introduced a deal in September. Last month, the union introduced agreements with Loews Hollywood and Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point.
“We have now won standard-setting contracts in downtown L.A., Hollywood, Orange County and Santa Monica. There are no excuses for the rest. Workers deserve to share in the prosperity of the tourism industry,” stated Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11.
The union has declined to offer specifics on wages and different financial particulars of the agreements it has reached to this point, and the contracts haven’t but been put to a vote by employees.
Keith Grossman, an lawyer representing a bunch of greater than 40 Southern California hotel homeowners and operators in talks with the union, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Peter Hillan, spokesperson for the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles, stated Le Merigot was not a member of the hotel group. Santa Monica lodges which might be a part of the coordinated bargaining group embrace Fairmont Miramar, Le Meridien Delfina, Courtyard by Marriott, Hampton Inn & Suites and the Viceroy, Hillan stated.
The union held a gathering with religion group leaders Thursday to debate situations of violence in opposition to picketing hotel employees in addition to the alleged exploitation of unhoused migrant employees introduced in to exchange placing employees at Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica.
The occasion, held at St. Augustine By-the-Sea church in Santa Monica was attended by native leaders together with former Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin and Santa Monica Human Services Commissioner Luis Barrera Castañón, the union stated in a information launch.
The union additionally despatched a letter final week to Santa Monica City Attorney Douglas T. Sloan urging town to research attainable violations of native legal guidelines by Le Meridien Delfina and different lodges that employed migrants as alternative employees.
The letter notes potential violations of hourly wages under Santa Monica‘s minimum of $19.73 and failures to provide “panic buttons” for workers’ security and associated coaching.
The letter cites reporting by The Times that additionally prompted an investigation by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón. In the letter, the union stated it has additionally requested that the California labor commissioner examine the lodges’ and subcontractors’ compliance with state legal guidelines relating to itemized wage statements and lunch and relaxation breaks.
