It’s the Fourth of July, and a huge wave of Los Angeles hotel workers are going on strike, declaring that they should have freedom and that they have the right to higher pay, as living in Los Angeles is becoming more and more costly.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused thousands of workers to fall behind on rent. Every single day was a frustration as they struggled to find a place to stay. Not only has Los Angeles, the United States’s second most populated city and metropolitan area, been troublesome for lifelong residents, the city has also been a difficult place for Hollywood stars to maintain their expensive lifestyle.
Just as the need for good quality hotels and service is becoming more crucial because of tourists staying in the area for the summer, the hotel workers decide to walk off their jobs.
According to The New York Times, Keith Grossman, a spokesman for the coordinated bargaining group consisting of more than 40 Los Angeles and Orange County hotels, said, “The hotels want to continue to provide strong wages, affordable quality family health care and a pension.” But with thousands of workers going on strike, the hotels clearly aren’t doing what they say they want to do. According to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, the city has recovered rapidly from the pandemic, with 46.2 million visitors to Los Angeles. The tourists are getting quality service, but the dedicated workers are not getting fair payments.
So, why should they exhaust themselves to work for a job that won’t help them keep up with their own life demands? As stated in The New York Times, Diana Rios-Sanchez, a housekeeping supervisor at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, says, “All we do in hotels is work and work and get by with very little. We take care of the tourists, but no one takes care of us.”
As Fourth of July hits, the workers feel even more compelled to protest for their freedom. Hotel workers aren’t the only ones in Los Angeles going on strike. Screenwriters, cafeteria workers, teachers, and dockworkers have felt that they were “rent-burdened” as their housing costs soared higher than before, and employers were not addressing their salary which wasn’t enough to reach their needs.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused thousands of workers to fall behind on rent. Every single day was a frustration as they struggled to find a place to stay. Not only has Los Angeles, the United States’s second most populated city and metropolitan area, been troublesome for lifelong residents, the city has also been a difficult place for Hollywood stars to maintain their expensive lifestyle.
Just as the need for good quality hotels and service is becoming more crucial because of tourists staying in the area for the summer, the hotel workers decide to walk off their jobs.
According to The New York Times, Keith Grossman, a spokesman for the coordinated bargaining group consisting of more than 40 Los Angeles and Orange County hotels, said, “The hotels want to continue to provide strong wages, affordable quality family health care and a pension.” But with thousands of workers going on strike, the hotels clearly aren’t doing what they say they want to do. According to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, the city has recovered rapidly from the pandemic, with 46.2 million visitors to Los Angeles. The tourists are getting quality service, but the dedicated workers are not getting fair payments.
So, why should they exhaust themselves to work for a job that won’t help them keep up with their own life demands? As stated in The New York Times, Diana Rios-Sanchez, a housekeeping supervisor at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, says, “All we do in hotels is work and work and get by with very little. We take care of the tourists, but no one takes care of us.”
As Fourth of July hits, the workers feel even more compelled to protest for their freedom. Hotel workers aren’t the only ones in Los Angeles going on strike. Screenwriters, cafeteria workers, teachers, and dockworkers have felt that they were “rent-burdened” as their housing costs soared higher than before, and employers were not addressing their salary which wasn’t enough to reach their needs.
