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Long Beach hotel workers hail $4-an-hour pay hike in new contract

April 14, 2023

Workers at the Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Centric hotels in Long Beach have secured a $4-an-hour raise, boosting minimum wage levels to anywhere from $22 to $25 an hour.

The minimum pay employees earn at the hotels varies depending on the specific job they do.

Under a new labor contract, 400 non-tipped room attendants, cooks, front desk agents and stewards represented by Unite Here Local 11 also will get free family health insurance and see staffing restored to pre-pandemic levels.

The hotels have also agreed to reinstitute mandatory daily room cleaning. Unite Here spokeswoman Maria Hernandez said that’s a good thing.

“A lot of hotels eliminated daily room cleaning during the pandemic and are only having rooms cleaned every three or four days,” Hernandez said. “That means rooms take longer to clean because they’re dirtier, and it has also reduced employee hours.”

Keeping pace

The $4 hourly pay hike is aimed at helping hotel workers keep pace with rising rents and inflated gas and grocery costs. Data from RentCafe.com show the average rent for a Long Beach apartment is $2,571 a month, with 72% of the city’s rental units priced at $2,000 or more.

Rents are considerably higher in some parts of the city, including Alamitos Beach, East Village, Terminal Island and West End Long Beach, which all average $2,968 a month, according to the price tracker.

“The new strong union contract acknowledges the hard work and dedication of hospitality workers who deserve dignity and the ability to live in the communities they serve,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said.

Richardson said the pay increase “acknowledges the need to invest in working families who are the backbone of our hospitality sector.”

Representatives with Hyatt could not be reached for comment on the new contract.

The wage increase is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023, and will expire June 30 to align with labor agreements at 100 other Southern California hotels and restaurants Unite Here Local 11 represents.

The workers will then begin negotiations for new labor contract.

Lorraine Clark, who works as a front desk host at the Hyatt Centric, formally known as Hyatt Centric The Pike, said her pay will jump to $22.50 from $18.50 hourly. Clark’s fiance also works but they have a 4-year-old child and finances are tight.

“The extra $4 an hour will make a big difference for people like us who live paycheck to paycheck,” the 36-year-old Long Beach resident said. “Our rent has gone up to $2,100 and we also pay $800 a month for preschool.”

Long Beach hotel workers and Unite Here Local 11 representatives gathered outside the Hyatt Regency late Thursday with Mayor Richardson, other City Council members and local labor leaders to announce the new labor contract.

A growing movement

The pay increase in Long Beach speaks to a growing movement among service workers to see their wages increased.

On Wednesday, April 12, Los Angeles Councilman Curren D. Price Jr. and unionized workers from the city’s tourism industry introduced a motion to raise the wage for L.A. tourism employees to $25 an hour this year and $28 an hour by 2028.

Those workers are “the foundation of L.A.’s tourism economy” but are struggling to survive on the city’s current living wage, they said, with many facing housing and food insecurity while being forced to work two jobs.

Proponents of the “Tourism Workers Rising” campaign say fair and adequate wages are imperative as the city gears up for the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.

Orange County Register

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Long Beach hotel workers hail $4-an-hour pay hike in new contract

Keeping pace

A growing movement

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