UNITE HERE Local 11 Presents Over 100,000 Signatures to City Hall

On Monday, May 2, hospitality workers gathered to turn in the petitions collected by UNITE HERE 11 towards qualifying their 'Hotel Worker Protection Initiative' for the November 2022 ballot at City Hall in Los Angeles.

Hospitality workers enthusiastically wave their arms as they chant “Si se puede” outside the Los Angeles city hall with balloons representing the amount of signatures they have gathered to deliver to the city’s clerk to get the ‘Hotel Worker Protection Initiative’ on the November ballot. (Danilo Perez | The Corsair)

Marco Acarla fist bumping the air as he leads the chant “Si we puede” outside the city hall where dozens of hospitality workers have gathered to unite for hotel workers protection on Mon, May 2, 2022 at Los Angeles, Calif. (Danilo Perez | The Corsair)

Marco Acarla speaking into the mic as he lead the chants “Si se puede” with other hospitality workers that have gathered to unite for hotel worker protection and deliver the 100,000 signatures they have gathered to deliver to the city’s clerk office to get it on the November ballot on Mon, May 2, 2022 at Los Angeles, Calif. (Danilo Perez | The Corsair)

White box truck containing the 100,000 signatures collected ready for delivery to the city’s clerk office to get their ‘Hotel Worker Protection Initiative’ on the November ballet on Mon, May 2, 2022 at Los Angeles, Calif. (Danilo Perez | The Corsair)

City councilman and mayor candidate Kevin De Leon makes an appearance to give a speech regarding the ‘Hotel Worker Protection Initiative’ before dozens of hospitality workers gathered to deliver over 100,000 signatures collected to deliver to the city’s clerk office to get the initiative on the November ballet on Mon, May 2, 2022 at Los Angeles, Calif. (Danilo Perez | The Corsair)

On Monday, May 2, housekeepers and other hospitality workers gathered to turn in the petitions towards qualifying their 'Hotel Worker Protection Initiative' for the November 2022 ballot at City Hall in Los Angeles. Petitions have been collected by UNITE HERE local 11, a labor union that represents over 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers, and airports since late January.

Over 100,000 Angeleno's signed onto the initiative, which aims to provide:

-Panic buttons and other security measures to protect hotel housekeepers from sexual assault and threatening conduct.

-Fair compensation for heavy workloads

-Restoration of daily room cleaning throughout the industry

-Expansion of minimum wage law for hotel workers

The initiative, which would follow the lead of neighboring cities to mandate panic buttons and raise minimum wage for hotel workers, "mirrors protections they have secured in Long Beach, Santa Monica, and most recently West Hollywood" according to a Media Advisory document given out at the event.

The event began at 1 p.m. and took place at 200 North Spring Street right in front of City Hall.Hotel workers and community allies and others turned in over 100,000 signed petitions to the Los Angeles City Clerk's Office. Even mayoral candidate Kevin DeLeon made an appearance to support.