WHO:         Dozens of hotel workers and allies
WHAT:      Rally of unity and hope in the face of employer violence against striking hotel workers

WHEN:      Saturday, Aug. 12, from noon to 3 pm.
WHERE:   Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa, 25135 Park Lantern, Dana Point 92629

On Saturday, August 12th, dozens of hotel workers and their allies will rally outside the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa to celebrate hope and unity. Thousands of workers at 46 hotels across LA and Orange Counties struck in the last month in the largest hotel strike in California history.

At the Laguna Cliffs Marriott, owned by the University of California Retirement Fund and operated by Aimbridge, workers have been repeatedly assaulted, threatened, and had property destroyed.  In response, the Union has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the hotel industry’s Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents a majority of LA’s unionized hotel employers—including Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, and Marriott—committed and/or condoned violence against employees in response to their concerted protected activities of striking and picketing. The charge cites the incidents at the  Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa in Dana Point as well as other instances of employer violence at the Hotel Maya and the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica.

Last week, John Tesar, the celebrity chef behind the Laguna Cliffs’ Knife Modern Steak restaurant, approached striking workers and broke a drum one of the workers was holding.  He then told the striking workers:  “Take your union and shove it up your ass.  Suck my d___.  You are a bad person. … You’re a lazy pendeja.” See video Here: https://pagesix.com/2023/08/05/top-chef-john-tesar-roasts-striking-workers-at-hotel/ 

While Aimbridge has claimed that Tesar “has been removed from the property while we continue to investigate this incident,” his relationship to the hotel remains uncertain and, as far as Local 11 is aware, there have been no consequences for any company personnel or guests for the threatening and violent conduct perpetrated against the workers.

In the context of a massive picket line and rally outside the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown hotel, hotel workers announced a legal filing against a pattern of violent episodes on picket lines at hotels in Los Angeles and Orange Counties where they had been on strike until recently.

The federal unfair labor practice charge cites the incident at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa as well as other instances of employer violence at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach and the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica. The charge alleges that the hotel industry’s Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents a majority of LA’s unionized hotel employers—including Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, and Marriott—committed and/or condoned violence against employees in response to their concerted protected activities of striking and picketing.

The Hotel Maya episode occurred August 5th as hotel security personnel—including a hotel manager—sought to forcibly relocate striking workers using a chain link fence while a guest ran around the fence and punched a worker in the head, pushing at least two others in the process.

The same day, striking hotel workers led a peaceful march through Santa Monica that ended at the Fairmont Miramar, where hotel workers and their supporters were attacked and tackled to the ground by hotel security as they sought to establish a picket line. A video of the violent episode has gone viral. See video here: https://twitter.com/UNITEHERE11/status/1687966130130845696?s=20

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 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.