Tourism workers spoke to the County Board of Supervisors yesterday in support of a motion authored by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis to authorize County Counsel to draft a hotel worker protection ordinance that would protect housekeepers against sexual assault at hotels located in Marina Del Rey and other unincorporated areas of LA County. The law will mirror legislation passed in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Irvine, Glendale and Santa Monica.

Supervisor Horvath, who championed both a hotel protection ordinance and the nation’s highest minimum wage in West Hollywood during her term as mayor, introduced the hotel worker protection ordinance. Among other protections, the law would mandate personal security devices and the time to report criminal and threatening behavior to the proper authorities; fair compensation for heavy workloads; voluntary overtime; and job security when new owners or managers take over hotels. Supervisors Janice Hahn, Hilda Solis, and Lindsey Horvath voted to direct County Counsel to draft the ordinance.

“We work hard to make LA county hotels successful,” said Cecilia Alvarado, a hotel worker in the County with more than 20 years of experience. “But oftentimes we are not fairly compensated for our hard work. Thank you, Supervisors Horvath and Solis for leading on protections for hotel workers like me.”

In addition, Supervisor Hahn did a “read in” motion to begin the process to establish a $25 minimum wage for hotel and theme park workers in unincorporated Los Angeles County. Workers from both hotels and theme parks spoke in support of the minimum wage.

“I’m a single mother of four,” said Evelyn Arceo, a baker at Universal Studios Hollywood with eight years of experience. “I live with them all in a one-bedroom apartment. I work long hours, regularly working overtime, so that I can provide for them as best I can. Going up to $25 an hour would mean that I could catch up on my bills, rent payments and recover my car, which was reclaimed by the dealership recently because I couldn’t keep up with the payments. No one working 40 hours or more a week should have to choose between feeding their children or keeping a roof over their heads.”

Hotel workers are also fighting for minimum wage increases in the cities of Los Angeles, Anaheim, Santa Monica and Long Beach.

“Workers who are the backbone of the tourism industry are being priced out of their homes,” UNITE HERE Local 11 Co-President Susan Minato said. “The higher minimum wage that Supervisor Hahn introduced and the hotel worker protection ordinance that Supervisors Horvath and Solis introduced are two concrete things that will change working people’s lives. LA is a world-class county and it should and can offer world-class wages and work protections for all.”

Both ordinances will come back to the Board of Supervisors.

UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona that work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports.

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