City Council Committee Recommends Living wage for Hotel Workers

Worker Profiles

For over 20 years, Isabel “Segunda” Brentner has worked at the LAX Hilton, keeping her focus on her family and her job. “My priorities [were] to help my family,” says Brentner, who, along with raising her own children, cared for both her father and grandmother when they were ill. More

Enedina Alvarez, a 54-year-old single parent, says she must be both mother and father to her teenage children. Yet, with two jobs, she has barely enough money to house, feed and clothe them—and precious little time to spend with them. Although she receives health insurance through her job, she cannot afford to insure her children. Alvarez says, “I pray to God that my kids do not get sick because I cannot pay the medical bills.” More

Who Are Hotel Housekeepers?*

Nearly all hotel housekeepers are women. The majority are women of color and immigrants.

There are 1.3 million hotel workers in the U.S. and 280,000 in Canada, of whom approximately one quarter are housekeepers.

Hotel Housekeeper Work Is Dangerous Work

Hotel workers have a 40% higher injury rate (5.9%) than workers in the service sector (4.2%).

According to a recent study of company records covering thousands of employee injuries, hotel housekeepers face an injury rate of 10.4%, almost double the injury rate for non-housekeepers (5.6%).

Hotel housekeeper injuries are debilitating. Back injuries, housemaids' knee (bursitis), and shoulder pain can lead to permanent disability.

*UNITE HERE

Why We Need A

"PLAN FOR A
NEW CENTURY"

A new white paper calls on the city of Los Angeles and industry leaders to invest in the Century Corridor and its workforce. A Plan for a New Century will benefit workers, communities, hotels and the entire city. More

City Council Committee Recommends Living wage for Hotel Workers
City News Service - April 26, 2006
By Art Marroquin

A City Council committee today recommended that the City Attorney's Office develop a living-wage ordinance for employees working at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport.

The council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee asked for the ordinance just one day after a commission dedicated to revitalizing Century Boulevard near LAX called on city officials to raise wages and benefits for hotel employees and create job training programs.

"Right now, a typical hotel worker is making $6.75 an hour, and if they're working 40 hours a week, that's only $1,000 a month," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who chairs the committee. "That's not enough to live, that is not enough to have a decent quality of life.

The Century Boulevard Corridor has the largest concentration of hotel rooms in Los Angeles County but the lowest room rates, according to a report from the Gateway to L.A. Blue Ribbon Commission, headed by former Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

Hotel wages in the area are 20 percent lower than in downtown hotels and 30 percent lower than in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, Galanter said during a news conference yesterday.

The council committee also asked representatives of L.A. Inc. — the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau—to return in three weeks to report on the status of a proposed conference center near LAX. If it's constructed, the proposed conference center is expected to generate more business for LAX- area hotels.

The committee also directed the city's Bureau of Street Services to return in 60 days with a plan to beautify the Century Boulevard Corridor, and asked Los Angeles World Airports—the agency that oversees LAX—to determine whether the Federal Aviation Administration could help fund the project.