Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, July 3. I’m Suhauna Hussain, a reporter on the L.A. Times business desk. I write about issues affecting workers.
It’s shaping up to be a “hot labor summer” in Los Angeles.
Thousands of workers at hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties walked off the job early Sunday morning, beginning what could be the largest U.S. hotel workers’ strike in recent memory. It’s no coincidence the strike falls on the typically busy Fourth of July weekend — and during the largest anime convention in North America, held in downtown L.A. — when hotel operators will feel it most.
Collective bargaining agreements at 62 hotels expired at midnight Friday. Workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 at more than 17 of those hotels are striking so far, as of Sunday afternoon, and the union said it expects more to join.
The strike represents a broad campaign by the union to leverage its growing membership to secure significant pay increases for tourism workers in the coming months. Sweeping pay raises are necessary, the union says, because of the region’s expensive housing, which is forcing workers to move farther away.
Complaints about the high cost of living is a common theme in labor actions this year. It was also the basis for a historic strike in the fall of some 48,000 unionized academic workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses.
The hotel worker strike is just one in a burst of job actions scheduled by various unions this spring and summer, across multiple industries in Southern California.
Workers are fighting for “historic gains” this year, said Yvonne Wheeler, a veteran labor leader who recently took over as head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Unions are willing to “shut it down,” she said, speaking at a rally organized by multiple unions in downtown L.A. in late May.
Hundreds of striking members of the Writers Guild of America rally at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles on June 21. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
In March, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants and other low-paid workers at Los Angeles Unified School District went on strike.
In April, employees at Flying Food Group Inc., a catering company that provides in-flight meals for international airlines at Los Angeles International Airport, began a strike that lasted several weeks.
Amazon delivery drivers in recent days have also been picketing at various logistics facilities in California, including Palmdale, Mira Loma and Newark. The actions were organized by local units of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
And now, it’s possible we could see prolonged and concurrent strikes of hotel workers, screenwriters and actors.
Hollywood writers have been on strike since May 2, and actors are in tense negotiations with studios. SAG-AFTRA members voted to authorize a strike if their leaders couldn’t secure a new film and TV contract to replace one that expired at midnight Friday. But the union agreed Friday to allow more time to negotiate, averting a strike for now.
You can read more about the hotel workers’ strike here.
In other labor news, the California Supreme Court on June 28 agreed to review a challenge to gig worker law Proposition 22. You might remember the voter initiative was bankrolled by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other rideshare and delivery companies, and approved by Californians on the 2020 ballot.
The law faced a legal challenge and has been bouncing around appeals courts for the past few years. The top court in California has decided to take a look at the case, and will likely be the final word on it. But don’t hold your breath. It may be many months before a hearing takes place and the question is settled.
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