Council Votes to Increase Hotel Workers' Wages

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

Council Votes to Increase Hotel Workers' Wages
CBS- November 15, 2006
By CBS Broadcasting Inc.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-1 Wednesday to tentatively approve three ordinances that will increase wages and job security for about 3,500 employees of hotels near Los Angeles International Airport.

All three measures will go before the council next week for final approval. Councilman Bernard Parks cast the lone dissenting vote against the ordinances.

One of the ordinances would require the 13 hotels along Century Boulevard near LAX to pay employees a minimum of $9.39 per hour and provide health insurance, or $10.64 an hour without benefits.

The Coalition for a New Century, one of the labor-backed groups in support of expanding the city's living wage ordinance, claims that a typical airport-area hotel worker makes $6.75 an hour and is not provided with health
insurance.

"This is an opportunity to give a basic wage, a living wage to the people who make these hotels as great as they are," said Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose 11th District includes LAX. "We're not looking at big bucks folks ... and I dare say, none of us around this horseshoe would be able to make it on that kind of money."

The City Council also approved a "Hotel Worker Retention Ordinance," which guarantees that workers would be able to keep their jobs -- for at least 90 days -- when a hotel changes hands.

Additionally, the council agreed that service fees charged for large events should go directly to workers.

"Working poor should be an oxymoron," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, chair of the council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee. "Nobody who works hard should be poor in America, and it's time that we are not just ashamed about this, but we do something about it."

The Hotel Association of Los Angeles and several business organizations oppose the idea of the government dictating wages to private employers, saying that imposing the wage ordinance would push room rates higher and hurt the tourism industry.

Hotel association officials have said they would sponsor a ballot measure to let voters decide the issue.