LONG BEACH, Calif. — Hundreds of hotel workers and their supporters protested outside the Hotel Maya in Long Beach Aug. 11, and at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point the next day. Violent assaults by hotel security against striking workers picketing there had taken place the previous weekend. UNITE HERE Local 11 has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board. The union also announced a boycott against the hotels.
Contingents from a broad range of unions and community groups joined the protests. Josh Campbell, a striking Writers Guild of America picket captain, was part of a union delegation joining the hotel workers in Santa Monica. “We’re here in solidarity,” he said. “When we heard about what happened at this hotel last week, we knew we had to be here today.”
Ada Briceño, co-president of Local 11, told protesters in Long Beach, “They will not break us down. We will fight and win.”