Hotel workers in Pasadena strike, celebrate the New Year

Vol. 88/No. 2 - January 15, 2024

PASADENA, Calif. — Hotel workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 11, struck the Hilton Pasadena and Hyatt Place Pasadena hotels New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The city hosts the annual Rose Parade and Rose Bowl football game that…


LA hotel workers fight for contract

Vol. 87/No. 39 - October 23, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Some three dozen striking hotel workers, beating drums and plastic buckets and blowing on vuvuzelas, picketed the Westin hotel near the Los Angeles airport Oct. 7. They were protesting the latest contract offer from the bosses, an…


Hotel workers protest violence against pickets in California

Vol. 87/No. 32 - August 28, 2023
Striking hotel workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 11, rally in Long Beach, California, Aug. 11 in fight for contract and against violent attacks by hotel security on picket lines.

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…


LA hotel, city workers strike, join fights by actors, writers

Common actions build working-class solidarity
Vol. 87/No. 31 - August 21, 2023
Over 11,000 Los Angeles city workers, including sanitation and airport workers, mechanics, gardeners and lifeguards, held 24-hour strike Aug. 8, protesting understaffing and overwork.

LOS ANGELES — Hotel workers held their fourth round of rolling strikes here Aug. 3-7. Thousands of UNITE HERE Local 11 members struck at 26 of the 60 area hotels where union contracts had expired June 30. Area hotels are…


Los Angeles school workers end strike, vote on new contract

Vol. 87/No. 14 - April 10, 2023

LOS ANGELES — The day after ending a massive March 21-23 strike, Service Employees International Union Local 99 announced that a tentative settlement had been reached with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The contract will be presented to the…


Los Angeles school workers, teachers rally for new contract

Vol. 87/No. 13 - April 3, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of public school workers held a spirited rally here March 15 outside City Hall to demand the Los Angeles Unified School District negotiate a new contract. The rally was organized by Service Employees International Union Local…


Santa Monica nurses picket, demand safe staffing

Vol. 86/No. 31 - August 22, 2022

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Over 60 nurses and supporters held an informational picket outside Providence Saint John’s Health Center here Aug. 1. The registered nurses, members of the California Nurses Association, are in contract negotiations with hospital bosses. The nurses’…


Bosses shutting Farmer John is blow to workers and farmers

Vol. 86/No. 28 - August 1, 2022
Eleanor García, center, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from California, discusses impact of bosses closing Farmer John pork packinghouse with worker July 7.

LOS ANGELES — On June 10 Smithfield Foods announced the closure of its Farmer John plant near here in Vernon, which slaughters almost 2 million hogs a year. Smithfield is owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group Ltd., the largest pork…


Steelworkers picket to prepare for Marathon contract talks

Vol. 86/No. 4 - January 31, 2022
Carrying signs saying, “Just practicing,” United Steelworkers Local 675 picket Jan. 12 in Carson, California, preparing for upcoming Marathon contract negotiations for 30,000 workers.

CARSON, Calif. — More than 100 members of United Steelworkers Local 675 picketed outside Marathon’s Carson oil refinery here early in the morning Jan. 12, the day before national negotiations began between the union and Marathon Petroleum bosses. The current…


Calif. sanitation workers fight over safety, seniority, respect

Vol. 86/No. 1 - January 3, 2022

LOS ANGELES — More than 250 Republic Services sanitation workers in the San Diego area, members of Teamsters Local 542, went on strike Dec. 18. “Safety issue here is a big concern. We’re driving trucks that shouldn’t be on the…