The local hotel labor struggle became a full-blown battle on May 10, when about 100 hotel workers and their supporters held a Mexican Mother's Day action to highlight the backbreaking workload and high injury rates at 13 hotels serving the Los Angeles International Airport.
Housekeepers, waiters and waitresses, plus busboys and chefs in their uniforms marched in front of the Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel holding placards saying, "This is our Century. Billions to modernize the LAX area. But what does that mean for us?" Some of their children held tightly to pink balloons that said, "I love my mommy. Give her back a break."
The next morning, 75 Hilton employees --- including many of those mothers --- were abruptly suspended after openly complaining about how a coworker, who was active in trying to organize employees, had been disciplined, and eventually fired, in an unrelated matter, according to hotel officials.
The following afternoon, May 12, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn led the suspended workers past a barricade into the hotel to speak with the general manager about the employees returning to work.
Workers were allowed to return to their jobs after five working days, but said conditions at the Hilton and other airport hotels hadn't changed. On June 8, members of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) led a "Pilgrimage for Worker Justice" on Century Boulevard from the LAX Hilton Hotel to the Westin LAX Hotel to highlight abuses at airport hotels.
And in the latest development, Senator Richard Alarcón, chairman of the Labor and Industrial Committee of the California State Senate, convened an information hearing on June 9 to gather firsthand data about employment practices by the Hilton Hotel Corporation and treatment of the chain's local immigrant workforce.
Working in pain
"I work eight hours cleaning rooms," LAX Hilton housekeeper Concepción Molina told Senators Alarcón of Los Angeles and Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, and Assembly Labor Committee chairman Paul Koretz of West Hollywood through an interpreter at last week's hearing in the La Tijera Methodist Church Hall.
"In my eight hours, I have to clean 16 rooms a day. Many times I have to move the mattresses 12 times in making each bed. And I have to clean the bathroom, mirrors and coffee makers."
To complete her work, Molina said she rarely takes breaks and most days works through her half-hour lunch period. At the start of each shift, she also has to stock her cart, which can take up to 40 minutes.
"Sometimes, when we run around doing 16 rooms, it means working in a lot of pain," she said. "I take pills for the pain, because we are told we have to finish our duties."
Violeta Real, who cleans the lobby and other public areas of the Glendale Hilton, testified that her supervisors give her too much work to possibly complete in eight hours. The immigrant laborer said she was so tired when she got home that she couldn't clean her own home or look after her children properly.
"When we get hurt, all they do is send us to their company doctor," she declared. "And the company doctor just sends us back to work.
"Our work is difficult and we deserve more respect," she added. "Even though we're Hispanic and we don't speak English very well, that does not give them the right to treat us this way."
Some 10 housekeepers, lobby workers and food service personnel told story after story of meal and rest periods missed, low wages, minimal (but costly) health benefits, discrimination because of poor language skills and chronic on-the-job injuries.
Dr. Marianne Brown, former director of UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, reported how recent research findings provide strong evidence there is a "growing epidemic of injuries" among hotel housekeepers and room attendants, especially in Southern California Hilton hotels.
'A very dangerous place'
"For those who work in hotels, it can be a very dangerous place as previous speakers have said," she noted. "In fact, hotel workers nationally are almost 60 percent more likely to be hurt on the job than the entire category of service section workers."
Brown said that in one recent study hotel housekeepers had a higher rate of back injuries than hospital workers, the group traditionally suffering the most back injuries. From 2003 to 2005, she reported that the number of injuries to housekeepers at Hilton hotels increased by 90 percent; at the LAX Hilton, workplace injuries jumped by 210 percent.
The injury increase, said Brown, can be attributed to (1) a cutback in staff who are now required to clean more rooms and (2) upscale hotel chains' addition of amenities, such as Hilton's "Serenity" bed, with its super-thick mattress weighing more than 200 pounds for a king-size bed, along with extra blankets and sheets that needed to be tucked in.
"Housekeepers, who the vast majority are recent immigrants, are experiencing a significant increase in injury rate at some of California's larger Hilton hotels," she said, stressing that "preventive efforts must be taken immediately to remedy this very serious situation."
Assemblymember Koretz said the hearing held much irony for him because his father came to Los Angeles as an immigrant and, in fact, worked as a waiter in the LAX Hilton. Earning a "decent" wage back then, his dad was able to support his family, which was covered by free health care from the hotel. He was also able to send his son to UCLA.
Koretz mused that if his father worked at the Hilton now, his own life would have been very different. And he seriously doubted he would be in the California legislature today.
"We can't say that this is just going to get better and sit back and let workers' rights be trampled upon," he said. "If the hotels think that we're going to do that, they're sadly mistaken. And I think it's particularly telling that they won't participate in this hearing today."
Senator Alarcón said if hotel workers were being asked to work off the clock, that was illegal in California and he intended to fully investigate the matter. He also suggested that, with hotels using heavier mattresses and more bedding, a new law perhaps was required to regulate the industry.
"It might be time for us to look at reducing the maximum number of rooms that can be cleaned by one person in an eight-hour workday to 14 or 12, or some other reasonable measure," he said. "As chair of this committee, I fully intend to introduce legislation next year at our earliest convenience to address these issues."
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