Down and Out in Beverly Hills: Hospitality Workers’ Union, UNITE HERE Local 11, Files Initiative in Beverly Hills for the Nation’s Highest Minimum Wage

Hotel workers call on the city to pass a $30 minimum wage

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, UNITE HERE Local 11 filed an initiative in the City of Beverly Hills that would require hotels to pay their workers $30 an hour. Citing the housing crisis, the union is demanding employers pay a living wage so that workers can afford to live near where they work. The proposed law would be the highest minimum wage in the country.

Workers are demanding further wage increases in large part due to rising housing prices. In a UNITE HERE Local 11 survey, 53% of workers said that they either have moved in the past 5 years or will move in the near future because of soaring housing costs. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a single mother would need to make over $40 an hour to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in the Los Angeles area, still well above the proposed minimum wage. Meanwhile, the hotel industry in Beverly Hills is booming, with rates at hotels like the Waldorf Astoria and Beverly Hilton charging guests more than $1,000 a night.

The union is also fighting for higher wages in other cities in the region. Cities like West Hollywood have raised their minimum wages and others like Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Long Beach are also pushing similar legislation.

The ballot measure also includes protections for hotel workers, including requiring panic buttons to protect workers who work alone cleaning guest rooms and restrooms from sexual assault and other threatening conduct, as well as fair pay for heavy workloads and job security in the event of a change in ownership or management. Numerous cities in the region, including Los Angeles, have enacted these protections.

“It is so frustrating seeing these hotels charge guests thousands of dollars, when workers like me who clean their rooms and cook them food are struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. We need a living wage,” said Filadelfia Alcala, Housekeeper at Waldorf Astoria for 6 years.

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