About 300 people were arrested Thursday evening for blocking the street in front of two hotels near Los Angeles International Airport in a highly choreographed event intended to publicize unionization efforts at 13 airport-area hotels.
The protesters sat back to back in front of the Hilton and Westin hotels on Century Boulevard, a main airport thoroughfare that was shut down in both directions as more than 2,500 people joined a march through the streets before the arrests.
At the Hilton, as the police handcuffed people and marched them off one by one to waiting buses, the crowd chanted “Boycott Hilton” and “Si, se puede” — “Yes, we can.”
“The struggle of these hotel workers is the struggle of all cities and communities in Los Angeles,” said Salvador Sanchez, a 41-year-old community college professor, before he was arrested. “People can’t afford rent or food. They have to have two jobs to pay for living expenses, and that’s ridiculous.”
Organizers from the local chapter of Unite Here, the hotel and restaurant employees union, have been trying to unionize the 3,000 to 4,000 airport hotel workers as part of a nationwide drive. The housekeepers, dishwashers and other employees earn an average of about $9.55 an hour, 20 percent less than similar workers make elsewhere in the city, said a union spokeswoman, Paulina Gonzalez.
Most of the workers are from Mexico and Central America, and the march and sit-in were organized in part by the immigrant rights coalition We Are America, which played an instrumental role in the marches that drew hundreds of thousands to downtown Los Angeles this spring.
Thursday’s event was closely coordinated with the police department to minimize the chance of violence, organizers said. Protesters gave their names and driver license numbers to the police so they could be arrested and released more quickly.
“We did warn the police about it,” Ms. Gonzalez said. “We didn’t want any surprises for them or us. This is a nonviolent event, an extraordinary event that delivers a message, but a nonviolent and peaceful event.”
Grant Coonley, general manager of the airport Hilton, said the protest was just a publicity stunt, with the immigration issue thrown in to draw more participants and more news coverage.
“I think it’s theatrics to draw attention to what they’re trying to do, because they’re losing support at the hotel,” Mr. Coonley said. “They don’t have support or they would go to an election.”
While the number of people arrested was unusually large, labor experts said the degree of planning and coordination with law enforcement was nothing unusual in an age when grassroots organizers are media savvy.
“I think the main departure is just the large scale of it,” said Ruth Milkman, director of the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California, Los Angeles. “I’ve witnessed similar choreographed events, but I’ve never seen one this large.”
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. 
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.” 
Nearly all hotel housekeepers are women. The majority are women of color and immigrants.
