Pinoy hotel workers protest unfair labor practices in California

LOS ANGELES—When about 800 hotel workers, community activists, and student supporters marched last week in downtown Long Beach to protest alleged unfair labor practices by some of the biggest hotels in the coastal city, their rally chant and demands sounded familiar. “Makibaka, H’wag Matakot (Let’s fight, don’t be afraid) !" Filipino protestors yelled, alongside giant effigies and screaming placards, as they snaked from Maine Street to east of Ocean Blvd down to the south end of Shoreline Aquatic Park where rally speakers took turns denouncingthe city council and hotel industry for their indifference to “poverty wages and difficult working conditions." “Back home, we Filipinos also shout `Si se puede’ in street demonstrations, just like our Latino friends," activist Art Garcia exhorts the predominantly Hispanic crowd. “This time though, we shout, `Pwedeng pwede!’" Majority of the marchers are Hispanic hotel workers; Latinos comprise 46 percent of Long Beach’s half a million population. According to USA Today, Long Beach is the most ethnically diverse large city in the United States, with a 12 percent Asian immigrant population, mostly Vietnamese, Filipinos and Japanese. “I am here to help unite and organize workers for a fair treatment (from management)," Filipino hotel server Herman Carino, a 7-year employee at Hilton Long Beach’s restaurant, told Philippine News. “I was hired as a regular employee, but unfortunately, I don’t get my fulltime hours. I only work for five or five and half hours a day. That’s not fair." A 10-year resident of the city, Carino is part of the close to 50 Filipino employees at Hilton LB, whose lower-rung workers spearheaded the march. Carino’s woes are shared by co-employee Jose Landino, 60, a 25-year resident of Long Beach, who has been laboring as cook for eight years but earns a measly $9.01 per hour. Long Beach, home to one of the world’s largest shipping ports, has a thriving hotel, tourism and arts business, aside from its large oil, aircraft, automobile parts, electronic and audiovisual equipment industry. It is also the headquarters site for corporations such as Epson America, Molina Healthcare, and Scan Health Care. The Long Beach hospitality and leisure industry is the third-fastest growing in the city. According to the latest study by Smith Travel Research, Long Beach hotels had an occupancy rate of 76 percent, higher than 24 of the 26 largest U.S. hotel markets. Its Revenue-Per-Available Room of $88.37 was higher than 18 of the 26 largest hotel markets in the US, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix, and Seattle. “Of the approximately 2,600 hotel workers in Long Beach, few are able to afford health insurance," says a statement by the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs & Healthy Communities, a broad-based coalition of community organizations, religious groups, and labor leaders. “Approximately 38 percent of these workers are on some public assistance and 39 percent are without health insurance." One of these workers is a 32-year old Filipino single mother of twin toddlers and a guest services staff at a downtown 5-star hotel. She earns $9.15 per hour with no medical insurance. “I have been toiling for almost five years now, but my condition hasn’t changed," she said. “We are here because we are the heart of Long Beach. We understand that Long Beach is a place where we can raise our children and have a better community. We are demonstrating today to let everyone know that we deserve better wage, so that we can properly raise a family, and help create a better community," says Daniel Salera, a rally leader. Long Beach ranks sixth in the nation for concentration of poverty. Approximately 89,000, or 19 percent, of city residents live under the federal poverty line, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. “Tourism is a key industry in Long Beach but job (situations) have remained the same. There are thousands of people here who are unable to support their families. Many are forced to work two jobs of accept public assistance to survive," says rally speaker Norma Chinchilla, a professor of Sociology at Cal State University Long Beach. “We are here to get the community together into a coalition. We are hoping that hotel owners will join us, as well as members of the City Council." Council members Patrick O’Donnell and a staff of Tonia Reyes Uranga attended the rally. Vice mayor Bonnie Lowenthal sent her support through a statement. “The City of Long Beach depends greatly on our tourism industry, and these workers keep this industry going. Fair is fair. They should not bear this burden while hotels benefit." Other groups represented in the march-rally are the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach, Long Beach Coalition for the Homeless, KMB, Unite Here Local 11, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Justice for Filipino American Veterans, and hundreds of CSULB students. - Philippine News