Westin Long Beach hotel workers remain on strike for higher wages, better working conditions

Everyday since July 6, workers at The Westin Long Beach hotel have been striking outside of their job before and after work. 

Voters passed Measure RW by a thin margin in March, raising wages for hotel and concession workers to $23 in 2024 and to $29.50 by 2028. But for many room attendants, front desk employees, cooks and housekeepers, the fight isn’t over. 

Workers at The Westin Long Beach are one of many Los Angeles county service industry businesses unionized under United Here Local 11. The union was successful in getting Measure RW passed for its members and is now working on a campaign to raise wages for airport employees. 

Union representative Maria Hernandez explained that Measure RW raised the minimum wage for hotel and concession workers in Long Beach, merely setting “a base for a living wage.” 

“These workers have a union so they have the opportunity to collective bargaining,” Hernandez said. “They’ve seen workers at Hotel Maya, The Westin in San Pedro, workers in LA and Santa Monica get their contracts and they’re asking for what those workers already have.”

Long Beach’s tourism and hospitality sectors have become some of its strongest economic drivers, responsible for roughly 18,000 jobs and $1.8 billion annually, according to the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau. 

As the city prepares to host multiple Olympic events in 2028, hotel and tourism workers advocated for higher wages with Measure RW and are now asking for additional protections and benefits. 

Requests in the contract that workers at the Westin Long Beach are bargaining for include: 

• $5 an hour raise in the first year; resulting in a $10,400 annual increase
• 40 to 50% wage increases for non-tipped workers over the 4.5-year term of the agreement
• Most room attendants earning $35 an hour by July 1, 2027
• Guaranteed pre-pandemic staffing levels and mandatory daily room cleaning
• One of the highest paid pension plans for service workers in nation
• 50 pages of improvements, including Juneteenth as a paid holiday, unprecedented language for the fair treatment of workers impacted by the criminal justice system and protections of immigrant rights

Hernandez said workers at The Westin Long Beach have been in conversations with the hotel’s bargaining group for months now, but “nothing concrete has been agreed to.” 

If agreed to, the contract will expire on January 15, 2028, just before the city is set to host multiple events and thousands of visitors for the 2028 Olympics. 

“Workers are not going to negotiate anything less than what other hotel workers in Long Beach are getting,” Hernandez said.