Catherwood LibraryILR School

Southern California hospitality workers have been on the picket lines demanding greater wages and improved employee benefits for the past several months. Thousands of workers have participated in strike action against hotels since July, and these workers are still fighting for these demands. Many of these workers are immigrant women of Latin descent, and these women are seeking wage increases to support the rising costs of living in the Southern California area. Workers have also stated that workloads have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, and they would like to see improvements in pay and benefits to match the workload increase. The workers are represented by the Unite Here union, and the union has been using a strategy similar to the strategy used by the United Auto Workers union in the strikes against the Big 3 Automakers. Strike actions occur for a short period of time and are spread out over several months, and workers do not strike at all hotel locations, but rather a select few each time.