Politics and policy for workers' health: LAX Hilton Hotel workers and community allies mobilize for higher wages, safer jobs and improved health care access

Workers at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Hilton experience hazardous working conditions, low wages, limited health care access and a work environment hostile to their demands for union representation. Increasing political participation since 2006 by LAX Hilton workers and community allies has yielded improvements in government and employer policies affecting the health and welfare of LAX-area hotel employees.

Working conditions at the LAX Hilton differ markedly from Hilton Hotels that are owned and operated by the Hilton Corporation and that have collective bargaining agreements with UNITE HERE, the union representing hotel workers. The Hilton Corporation operates but does not own the LAX Hilton, which is non-union. Hilton-owned and operated hotels that are also unionized have taken steps to reduce housekeeper workloads through joint labor-management policies and practices.

This presentation compares injury rates from the LAX Hilton to lower rates from union hotels that are owned and operated by the Hilton Corporation and to lower national industry rates. Additional data include workload comparisons and descriptive information on musculoskeletal injuries of LAX Hilton housekeepers. The authors will highlight successful worker and community initiatives: winning City Council approval of the LAX-area hotel Living Wage Ordinance which also affects health benefits; testifying at state Senate hearings about issues affecting immigrant hotel workers; and documenting hazardous workloads through worker requests to LAX Hilton management for employer records of housekeeper injuries.