In the wake of a tentative labor agreement, a union-led effort to add a measure to the ballot in 2024 that would have raised the minimum wage of hotel workers in Beverly Hills has fallen flat.
Unite Here Local 11, the union representing thousands of housekeepers, restaurant workers and front desk staff in Southern California and Arizona, filed a petition to raise the minimum wage of hotel workers in Beverly Hills to $30 per hour on July 25. They had 180 days from then to gather signatures from at least 10% of the city’s registered voters, roughly 2,200 residents.
The petition was submitted as walkouts and picket lines formed at about 60 hotels throughout Southern California, including the three unionized hotels in Beverly Hills: the Beverly Hilton, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel. The demonstrations drew widespread media coverage that helped build support for striking workers, and tentative agreements between the management of those three properties and Unite Here were reached in December.
Union members must vote to ratify the deals before they are confirmed. Details regarding pay and benefits in the deal brokered by Unite Here and the hotels had not been publicly released as of press time.
Meanwhile, city officials have not received any submission of signatures, request for extension or any further communication from Unite Here regarding their petition since it was filed last summer, Beverly Hills spokeswoman Lauren Santillana told the Courier. The deadline was on Jan. 21.
Under their previous contracts, unionized hotel workers in Beverly Hills earned around $20 to $25 per hour, according to Unite Here representatives. The union had been seeking an immediate $5 raise, followed by two subsequent $3 raises over the next two years. Negotiators for the hotels had countered with a $2 per hour raise upon contract ratification and a $1 per hour raise in 2024.
Representatives for Unite Here did not respond to multiple requests for comment by the Courier.
