Unite Here Local 11 – a union representing hospitality workers in Southern California – is pushing for the so-called Responsible Hotel Ordinance in the city of Los Angeles. If passed, this harmful policy would force hotels to report room vacancies so they can be filled by homeless individuals.
The union has until December to pull the controversial measure from the ballot. If not, it will go to vote in March — even though both hotel workers and tourists have rejected this flawed solution to the city’s homelessness crisis.
According to hotel workers, housing the homeless at their place of work is a safety concern they can’t get behind. Dozens of self-identified hotel workers from the LA-area recently shared their perspective on the potential policy. Of the 56 workers who spoke out, over 90 percent said they would be somewhat or much less safe if hotels were to house homeless individuals. A whopping 87 percent said they would not support this policy. It’s worth noting that every worker who weighed in identified as a woman.
Potential tourists are similarly put off by the union’s bad idea. In a survey conducted by Morning Consult, over 70 percent of surveyed Americans said they would be deterred from booking a room in Los Angeles if hotels were forced to house the homeless.
Thanks to a pandemic-era initiative called Project Roomkey, there’s already plenty of evidence that housing the homeless in hotels can be dangerous for both staff and guests.
While participating in this program, LA Grand hotel workers described being exposed to illness and bodily fluids, and violence. At the Miyako Hotel, a homeless man actually threatened staff with a knife. At a Vallejo hotel, reported conditions included feces in the hotel’s hallway in addition to urine, vomit, needles, and glass.
Hundreds of Roomkey participants were kicked out of three hotels for criminal activity and noncompliance. Tragically, dozens of people in LA died while participating in the program – including eight deaths at just one LA hotel.
Despite these disastrous results, Project Roomkey is what inspired the union’s latest ballot measure. So why would Local 11 push for a policy that would put its own members in harm’s way? It could be a potential bargaining chip.
Right now, hundreds of union members are currently on strike battling it out for new contracts at several area hotels. The union might be willing to pull this ballot measure if it means those hotels make a deal that lands Local 11 with even more dues-paying members. It wouldn’t be a first for the union. Local 11 has a history of pushing for controversial policies and then allowing carve outs for hotels that play ball with the union.
Ironically, the same union fighting to house the homeless alongside paying hotel guests is also currently trying to keep migrant workers in Los Angeles – many of whom are seeking permanent housing – unemployed. Union organizers have taken to fear mongering by interrogating these migrants in person at rescue missions, and apparently discouraging them from accepting hotel jobs.
The union’s inconsistent values make its motives for introducing this ballot measure all the more questionable. While homelessness remains a critical issue in California, any solution that puts workers at risk isn’t the right one.
Charlyce Bozzello is the communications director at the Center for Union Facts, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to transparency and accountability in today’s labor movement.
