Hotel Workers Have Been Carrying Out Rolling Strikes Across Southern California
Since their contract expired on June 30, hotel workers across the Los Angeles area have launched a wave of rolling strikes against 62 hotels. They are demanding raises to keep up with LA’s skyrocketing cost of living — especially rents.
Southern California hotel workers walk out and strike at a hotel in Beverly Hills on July 24, 2023. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Shouts of “No contract, no peace,” pounding drums, and a raucous band pierced the usually quiet, tony city of Beverly Hills, California, as 250 hotel workers picketed the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria on July 26.
The primarily Latino crowd then marched several blocks down Wilshire Boulevard to picket the posh Beverly Wilshire hotel entrance, flowing around Porsches, black Cadillac SUVs, and a Mercedes Maybach containing a terrified pug.
The Beverly Hills action was part of the third wave of strikes against sixty-two hotels in southern California after contracts expired June 30. The rolling strikes strategy targets segments of the city, instead of all workers walking off the job at once. The first wave targeted downtown hotels starting July 2; the second wave hit hotels near the Los Angeles airport. After a week’s pause for negotiations that eventually stalled, the third wave targeted hotels in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, West Hollywood, nearby Pasadena and Glendale, and Orange County to the south.
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