“Left Behind” Santa Monica Hotel Workers Call Attention to Need for Healthcare Coverage Through COVID-19 Pandemic

Over 100 Santa Monica hotel workers took action designed to call attention to the need for healthcare coverage through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The demonstration comes after hundreds of hotel workers in Long Beach and Santa Monica participated in car caravans to call attention to the need for healthcare coverage through the crisis. Unemployment exceeds 90% in the hotel industry.

The Fairmont Miramar is the only Santa Monica hotel that has committed to extend healthcare coverage for their bellpersons, room attendants, cooks and servers.

“While hotel companies are receiving millions in bailouts from the federal government, their housekeepers, cooks, bellman, and servers are being left behind,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11 which represents more than 32,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, airports, sports arenas and convention centers in Southern California and Arizona. “The least these employers can do is ensure their workers continue to have healthcare in the middle of a global healthcare crisis.”

“My health insurance is set to expire at the end of June. I don’t know what I am going to do without my medication,” added Edith Garcia, uniform attendant at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. “Loews Santa Monica needs to follow the lead of the Fairmont Miramar and ensure we have our healthcare through the pandemic.”

Among the Santa Monica properties that have not guaranteed healthcare coverage through this pandemic are: