Hotel Workers Call on City To Enforce Employment Law

At an event in front of City Hall Tuesday morning City Councilmember John Kennedy said he stands with local hotel workers fighting to get their jobs back.

“I stood on the steps of City Hall this morning in unison with our hotel workers in Pasadena,” Kennedy said.

More than 35 people who were formerly employed by the Langham Pasadena Hotel are hoping to return to work after the hotel announced it would be housing professional baseball players taking part in the upcoming American League Division Series.

The former Langham workers were at City Hall on Tuesday to deliver a letter to local policymakers, urging them to uphold the city’s Worker Retention and Right of Recall Ordinance, which was passed by the City Council in July. Workers are asking for transparency about what work is available, the identities of the people management are hiring to do the work, and how much work there may be for them in the future.

Hotel officials have not returned multiple calls and texts for comment.

“My coworkers and I worked hard to pass this law. We want the city of Pasadena to enforce this and for Gov. (Gavin) Newsom to sign (Assembly Bill) 3216 so workers across the state can have these protections,” said fired Langham Pasadena worker Yesenia Ortiz.

AB 3216 applies to owners of hotels, private clubs, event centers, airport hospitality operations, airport service operations, janitorial services, building maintenance services, and security services. It would also require successor employers in these industries to maintain a preferential hiring list of eligible employees identified by the employer.

In addition, the law would require employers to hire from that list for a period of six months after the change of control and retain eligible employees for a 90-day transition employment period, and offer continued employment.

“AB 3216 would make the recall process more transparent for us and workers all across California need it,” said Ortiz.

Newsom has until Wednesday, Sept. 30, to sign the bill into law.

The city’s ordinance, which is the law in Pasadena, mandates hotel workers to be rehired after the economic crisis passes. Passed by the City Council in July, the ordinance includes a right-to-recall element for displaced workers and a worker-retention clause — the latter to protect employees in the event of a change in control of a hotel’s management.

Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Long Beach have passed similar ordinances. And now, the legislation on Newsom’s desk could protect a wider range of hospitality workers statewide.

“The hardworking women and men, our neighbors, at the Langham and all our hotels in Pasadena deserve to get their jobs back by seniority, which is why the Pasadena City Council passed the Recall and Retention Ordinance earlier in the pandemic,” Kennedy said.

The workers and Kennedy were joined by local clergy members at City Hall Tuesday.

Players’ unions with Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) have announced their support for the workers.

“Our union joins MLB in calling for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign as Assembly Bill 3216,” the NFL Players Association posted on Twitter Tuesday.

“As a players union, we worked hard to build protections for our members. This bill will extend important protections to hospitality and service workers statewide. We stand in solidarity with service workers everywhere but especially call on protections to support those hit hardest by the pandemic,” according to the tweet.

The workers who sent the letter Langham managers — who say that combined they have more than 300 years of experience — have yet to be called back.

The Langham laid off the employees shortly after the pandemic devastated the hospitality industry. In March and April occupancy rates declined from 85 percent to 10 percent.

“I am a single mother of four kids and worked at Langham for seven years. I need this job to provide for my family. I am asking Pasadena to enforce the law and I am asking Governor Newsom to sign AB 3216 for all hospitality workers like me who depend on this industry to provide for our families,” said Miriam Reyes, a fired Langham worker.