Following Unionization Vote, Workers at Mr. C Beverly Hills Hotel May Soon Bargain for First Contract

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On November 1, 2019, housekeeping workers at Mr. C participated in an election to be represented by UNITE HERE Local 11. The union believes that once legal challenges concerning the election are settled, it will have prevailed and the hotel will be unionized.

If Local 11 is certified as the employees’ bargaining agent, it expects to propose significant improvements to wages, benefits and working conditions as part of the housekeeping workers’ first collective bargaining agreement.

Although wage and benefit standards vary across hotels that employ workers who are represented by Local 11, wages will reach $25 per hour at many Los Angeles-area hotels by 2023. At most of these hotels, members are also participants in union health care and pension plans.

The Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel is not covered by a labor peace agreement. Labor disputes at other Los Angeles-area hotels have included strikes, regular picket lines, and boycotts. For example, the Terranea Resort in nearby Rancho Palos Verdes, California, is the subject of a much publicized, women-led boycott (see www.metooterranea.org for details).

During the union election at Mr. C, management challenged the voting eligibility of three workers employed as room inspectors, causing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to impound their ballots. If tallied for the union, the three outstanding ballots will contribute to a majority vote for unionization.

In a lengthy decision issued on January 10, an NLRB Hearing Officer concluded that the three workers were eligible to vote, rejected the employer’s other objections, and issued a recommendation that the impounded ballots be counted. The employer has filed exceptions to this recommendation, which is presently before regional NLRB regional leadership.

UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing over 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports.