Dive Brief:
- Two hotels, Loews Hollywood and Laguna Cliffs Marriott, reached tentative agreements with their union workers this week, ending monthslong labor disputes at the properties, hospitality union Unite Here Local 11 shared in releases obtained by Hotel Dive.
- As part of the agreements, which were bargained separately, workers at both properties will receive higher wages, stronger pensions and increased employer investments in employee healthcare.
- Loews Hollywood and Laguna Cliffs Marriott join the other two hotels that have ended strikes on their properties, but work stoppages continue in the region at dozens of hotels including the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton LA Live, the Beverly Hilton and Fairmont Miramar.
Dive Insight:
In addition to Loews Hollywood and Laguna Cliffs Marriott, two other hotels in Southern California have reached contract agreements with union workers represented by Unite Here Local 11: Biltmore Los Angeles earlier this month and the Westin Bonaventure in June.
The Westin Bonaventure was the only property in the region to avoid a work stoppage entirely by agreeing to contract terms before the strike deadline.
Unite Here Local 11 has held multi-wave strikes since early July while union representatives and hotel management have continued to butt heads over a variety of issues. In August, the union called for a boycott of three properties amid allegations of violence toward striking workers — including Laguna Cliffs Marriott — which spokespeople for area hotel associations denied.
“We are thrilled to be in agreement with our partners at UNITE HERE Local 11,” said Vincent Piro, managing director at Loews Hollywood, in a statement, adding “our team members are at the core of what makes Loews the company it is.”
Negotiations at Laguna Cliffs Marriott were facilitated by former Speaker of the California State Assembly John Pérez.
“This is an example of how communities benefit when labor and management come together and work towards an agreement that is mutually beneficial,” Pérez said in a statement.
Though the agreements mark the end of strikes for some California hotel staffers, union workers elsewhere are just embarking on theirs. Earlier this month, thousands of casino and resort workers in Detroit, including some represented by Unite Here, walked off the job to advocate for better pay.
And in Las Vegas, workers in the Unite Here-affiliated Culinary and Bartenders Unions have voted to authorize a strike.
Unite Here did not immediately respond to a Hotel Dive inquiry about contract details of the tentative agreements in California.
