Workers stage one-day strike at upscale hotel near Staples Center

Employees at an upscale boutique hotel in downtown Los Angeles staged a one-day strike Thursday to protest alleged increased workloads that they said resulted in unfair disciplinary actions.

Management for the Luxe City Center Hotel at 1020 S. Figueroa St., across from the Grammy Museum, declined to comment.

The hotel, which has about 200 rooms, was a Holiday Inn before it was remodeled and re-branded in December. Standard online prices for a room, in a check of rates Thursday, ranged from $179 to $234, before taxes.

Hotel workers claim the remodel resulted in more work: Tubs were replaced by showers with glass doors that required daily cleaning, and each room had more linens. Besides that, the business has boomed in the downtown area near Staples Center.

Instead of adding sufficient workers or hours, management simply demanded more work and gave employees warnings when they fell short of quotas, said housekeeper Vanessa Aveldano, 26, who has worked at the hotel for five years.

Several employees have two warnings and can be fired when they get three, she said.

“They’ve pushed a lot of extra work on us,” said the mother of two who makes $13.72 an hour and lives south of downtown L.A. “It’s too much. We can’t finish.”

About half the housekeeping staff works enough hours to earn health benefits, she said. And about five housekeepers are on medical leave.

The Luxe, like other hotels, is resisting increasing staffing as the economy recovers, said Leigh Shelton, a spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 11, which staged a daylong demonstration with about 70 participants on the sidewalk outside the hotel.

“The economy is in full swing," she said, "but the workers don’t feel that.”

The Luxe action is part of a larger organizing campaign. About 4,000 workers at 20 unionized hotels are currently working without a contract, Shelton said. About 70% of hotels in the upscale downtown Los Angeles corridor are unionized, she added.

ALSO:

Lindsay Lohan fate up in the air as Riverside D.A. reinvestigates Betty Ford incident

Huntington Beach considers posting photos of repeat drunk drivers on Facebook page

Marine at Camp Pendleton dealt setback in effort to avoid return to prison in Iraq slaying

-- Howard Blume

 

Comments

[Tornadoes28]

Are you kidding me? In today's economy and high unemployment these fools are protesting too much work? Fire them all. There are plenty of others who would love their jobs.

[TrueFreedom]

Get back to WORK!
If you don't, we have a 10% unemployment rate. There are folks that will take your job.

[TrueFreedom]

Let me add, my company currently went thru a downsizing, resulting in unreasonable requests for extra hours (I'm salaried, so don't get paid for extra hours).
I told my boss I'll do the best I can, but I don't think I'll hang with the increased workload. He'll either accept my productivity, or he won't. If he doesn't, I'll go find a new job, and my boss will find someone to replace me. Perhaps this new person has better productivity than I do.. in which case, we're both better off. If the new person has the same or less productivity, then perhaps my old boss will learn a lesson.

[Steven M.]

Don't like the working conditions or the salary? Leave. Have a problem cleaning showers? Find another job.

This is America, Jack. If I don't like my job, that's what I do and so can you. We are not a nation of griper's.

[Chillipepper]

This is Capitalism.. if you cannot handle the work or unsatisfied just quit and find another.

Only the State Unions have to power to demand what they want. The Governor supports them.

[Miguel]

You people are idiots ! You would beg at your bosses feet!
I have madds respect for those workers , they are willing to
rise up against there employer and say enought !!!
Grow a spine ! Whimps !!!!

[My view means nothing]

10% unemployment is preciously why these hard working employees are striking! Fewer workers are not the answer. The hotel can afford to hire more workers. They don't want to because that would take away their profit margin. To any and all who think that these people don't want to work: shame on you. You disgust me. I bet you havn't worked in a job where so much was demanded from you day in and day out that you felt you just couldn't go on. It is a horrible feeling to feel you could lose your job because your body can't take anymore and somebody else held your life in their hands.

[gerryk]

It is only when brave souls like those housekeepers stand up to unfair labor practices will working conditions improve for ALL workers. High unemployment is NO excuse to exploit your workforce.

[jonnybquik]

America needs to go to a 35 hr workweek like Europe rather than having these poor souls worked to the bone to pay for unemployment benefits for everyone else twiddling their thumbs. Govt needs to fine & jail hotel owners who exploit minimum wage workers like this while charging $200+ a nite for a room

[sailerjerry]

There is no economic recession for these corporations, only their workers. It's inspiring to see working people standing up to exploitation. they aren't lucky to have jobs, they make that hotel profitable down to person who takes out the trash. keep fighting!

[US Worker]

These workers make almost $14 per hour and have fully paid medical, dental and vision with nothing paid by them. (better than most insurance plans in the nation) They are striking over cleaning 15 verses 14 rooms in a day. The average housekeeper for a hotel in the US cleans 16 rooms. Most maids at luxury hotels in LA clean 15 rooms. From what I have heard their employer has conditionally agreed to 14 rooms at the bargaining table and the negotiations are ongoing. This means they are on the street striking and there is not even a stall in the contract bargaining process. It is the Union not the employer that has resisted continued negotiation. They will be lucky if their employer doesn’t lock them out after this.

I love the comments posted by some of you that applaud this act of a Union sending hard working people on strike without explaining to them what is really going on. Did anyone notice that the Union called for a full strike and every department in the hotel crossed the picket line and worked with the exception of the housekeepers? Wasn't it interesting that the Hotel had people there to work and replace their jobs that same day and they were happy to have the work. What does this tell you? Our country has massive unemployment and many people that want and need these jobs. Most Hotels actually lose money in any given year and that is why so many hotels are bankrupt. All hail the unions, lets put innocent workers on the street, bankrupt America and make it a third world country! Great plan…

[Pamela]

I was at the front desk when the journalist came in to ask to speak to the manager. The management did not decline to speak, they had just left the building for the day. It was already 5:00pm.

The protesters were upset that their first offer of cleaning 14 rooms per person was so easily accepted by the hotel, so they revoked it and offered only 13 rooms per cleaning staff instead. When the hotel refused, the cleaning staff were written up for not cleaning the one extra room each day.

This is what led to the protest.

The hotel didn't demand more work. They had actually just reduced the workload from 20 rooms to 14.

The front desk staff were fantastic. I'm glad this lasted only one day. I don't know if I could spend an entire 18 hours listening to someone call me a cockroach every time the glass doors swung open.