By Frank Wells
Members of the Lennox Teachers Association and the Inglewood Teachers Association joined thousands of protesters in taking to Los Angeles streets in support of local hotel workers.
The march culminated in an act of civil disobedience with the planned arrests of about 300 marchers who sat down and refused to disperse from the street in front of the Hilton and Westin hotels. The event, which diverted traffic from Century Boulevard leading into Los Angeles International Airport, was organized to publicize the unionization efforts at 13 airport-area hotels. Union organizers coordinated the action with the cooperation of police to minimize airport disruption while generating maximum media coverage.
The cooks, housekeepers, dishwashers and other employees at the affected hotels earn an average of about $9.55 an hour, significantly less than similar workers elsewhere in the city. The UNITE HERE members, many of whom are immigrants, drew support not only from organized labor, but also from immigrant rights groups that accused the hotels of using their workers’ status to undercut their wages and benefits.
Both Lennox, a small district with schools that sit almost literally at the end of the airport runway, and Inglewood service many students who live near the hotels in question or are children of the affected workers.
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| Lennox Teachers Association President YseniaAlvarez (with sign on left) leads a contingent of approximately 20 school employees in the march to support Unite Here efforts to organize hotel workers in the Los Angeles airport area. |
The strong participation at the event is an example of successful CTA outreach to other labor groups, says Cindy Ensworth, a CTA field organizer. “Whether it’s attacks on health care, on the rights of workers to organize or have a political voice, or even on something as basic as a living wage, it’s vital that labor groups support each other. Our members understand that an injury to one is an injury to all and losses on these issues for one group lower the bar everywhere else.”
“This is an important issue that directly affects our students and their families,” says Lennox Teachers Association President Ysenia Alvarez. “Our members were very excited to help out.” LTA, which has been supportive of the hotel workers’ cause, turned out a march contingent of 20 members.
The protest was not CTA’s first show of support for the hotel workers. In June, delegates at CTA’s State Council of Education contributed over $6,000 for the Hilton workers’ strike fund, and CTA donated a matching amount. State Council is now meeting in a different hotel.
A year earlier, when the 2005 NEA Representative Assembly was held in Los Angeles, CTA and NEA successfully pressured downtown hotels to settle their contracts with workers before agreeing to let delegates stay in them.
CTA has assured Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo of ongoing support for the rights of hotel workers to decent wages and working conditions.
“CTA members support hotel workers and stand firmly opposed to their exploitation by very profitable corporations,” says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. “The Los Angeles airport hotels should follow the example of their counterparts downtown and work out reasonable agreements that respect the dignity of all their employees.”