LA hospitality union suspected to be striking “on false pretenses”

The WSJ dives into a bizarre strike(out) from Unite Here Local 11, a union in Los Angeles. In July alone, the labor union has staged three disruptive walkouts. Their demands: that hotels must house homeless people and slap an additional 7% tax on guest rooms. Meanwhile, hotel personnel wonder if it's all one histrionic farce to beef up union membership.

Visitors to Los Angeles can soak up the sun this summer, but good luck finding a quiet hotel room.

Thank Unite Here Local 11, the city’s militant hospitality union, which according to federal filings represents more than 20,000 workers. This month, members have gone on three raucous strikes during peak tourism season....

Start with the loyalty oath, which the union included on the first page of a 55-page demand manifesto. As a condition of labor peace, the union wants 44 Los Angeles-area hotels, represented by the Coordinated Bargaining Group, to sign a public statement of support for a ballot measure that requires them to house the homeless alongside paying guests.

This proposal, which will be on the ballot in Los Angeles in March 2024, won’t do anything to improve housekeepers’ working conditions. In fact, it promises to make them less safe at work.

Next, the union wants unionized hotels to add a 7% tax on the cost of each guest room, on top of local hotel taxes as high as 16% that Los Angeles tourists already pay. The revenue would be deposited into a trust fund established by the union, with total collections estimated at $150 million a year—five times the local union’s current annual revenue. The fund would have broad discretion to spend the money on “housing” or “other efforts” as it deems fit.

Negotiators for the hotels believe the union wants to use new revenue sources to grow its ranks and has accused it of striking on false pretenses.

This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Read the whole thing here.

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