Mother of a Day

LAX Hilton Hotel workers return from a not-so-needed break.
by Sam Roudman and Evan George

If the idea of a one-week, forced vacation sounds like a great Mother’s Day gift, just ask the 75 LAX Hilton Hotel employees who were barred from work after participating in a Mother’s Day work stoppage last week to protest what they say are unsafe and unfair working conditions. As of Thursday, May 25 many of the workers were reinstated and allowed back to work; however, many have said the unpaid suspension will drastically affect their already low incomes.

The work action on May 11 was organized by community leaders and Hilton workers to highlight high injury rates in the area’s hotels. Many of the hotel workers also brought their children for the Give Our Mothers a Break Day. That afternoon, Hilton management suspended the 75 workers for gathering in an employee cafeteria without permission for up to two hours after they learned of the suspension of one of their colleagues who, union organizers say, had helped organize the action.

“Because we’re immigrants, they feel we can’t express our rights,” said Miguel Vargas, who has waited tables at the Hilton for 14 years.

Workers and community activists rallied for several hours in front of the Hilton on both Friday and Monday, demanding they be allowed back to work. Security guards physically barred them from entering the hotel. On Tuesday, May 16, L.A. City Council voted unanimously to urge Hilton to resolve the situation in a “fair and equitable manner.”

City Councilwoman Janice Hahn was particularly vocal in her support of the hotel employees and participated in Friday’s demonstration, calling the suspensions unjustified and “overreacting by the management.” Hahn ran into a testy dispute of her own Friday when a Hilton security guard pressed charges against her for allegedly assaulting him during the action. To press her support, Hahn had led a group of the suspended workers on a march into the hotel lobby, pushing past one of the guards, Amilcar Sanchez, who filed a battery complaint with the LAPD after the incident.

UNITE HERE, the local hotel worker’s union, said it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the LAX Hilton for suspending the workers without pay. According to the union, the workers—many of whom make minimum wage—will lose 1/4 of their monthly income from the suspensions.

The turmoil comes at an already testy time for the LAX hotel, which has been battling union organizing for years. Most recently, a Blue Ribbon commission of community leaders reported to L.A. City Council on the poor working conditions in the area’s hotels. The Council’s Commerce and Tourism Committee enacted an initiative last month to work toward extending living wage laws to the area. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also pledged support to bootstrap a regional economic development project centered around the LAX Airport.

As for the reinstatement of Hilton workers, union organizers and community activists are calling it a “partial victory.” Some workers like Vargas said they feel the suspension was an attempt to divide workers and only exasperated many who feel their workplace demands are basic. “Wouldn’t you want communication with your boss?” asked Vargas. LAA