On October 25, the Irvine City Council voted 3-2 to impose new labor rules on Irvine hotels with more than 45 rooms – an action that hotel management says will increases labor costs and inhibit their ability to accommodate employee requests for work flexibility.
The ordinance also requires hotels to equip hotel housekeeping staff with “panic button” devises enabling them to request assistance in the event of harassment by guests.
UNITE-HERE Local 11, a militant union that represents approximately 32,000 hospitality workers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, lobbied hard for the ordinance.
Mayor Farrah Khan and Councilmembers Tammy Kim and Larry Agran supported the measure, while Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo and Councilmember Mike Carroll voted against it.
UNITE-HERE Local 11’s co-president, Ada Briceno, is also the chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, which has endorsed both Khan and Agran for re-election.
While supporters focus on the “panic buttons” by billing it as a hotel worker “protection” ordinance, the bulk of the ordinance deals with limiting hotel worker hours and the square footage of room they have to clean during an eight-hour shift, and boosting their pay in certain circumstances.
Housekeepers in hotels with between 45 and 60 rooms cannot be asked to clean more than 4,500 square feet of hotel rooms during an 8-hour work day. In hotels with more than 60 rooms, that limitation constricts to no more than 3,500 square feet of rooms per 8-hour work day. If an employee is asked to go one foot over that limitation, the hotel must pay them double time for the entire shift.
The ordinance also prohibits employees from working more than 10 hours in a workday without their written consent.
However, the ordinance contains an escape clause: hotels can gain exemption from these work rules by signing collective bargaining agreements with a union (presumably UNITE-HERE Local 11) that waives this section of the ordinance.
Critics say that is the real purpose of the ordinance – to make it more expensive for hotels to be non-union in hopes they’ll sign collective bargaining agreements with UNITE-HERE Local 11, which has had little success organizing Orange County hotel workers.
Vice Mayor Kuo and Councilman Carroll said criticized joining two unrelated proposed – panic buttons and work limitations – in one ordinance.
“I think to combine these two issues, I don’t think that they really should be combined. One has to do with safety, and one doesn’t,” said Kuo. “I’m somewhat at a loss because there are portions I think are good, there are portions that aren’t good enough.”
READ: Hotel Worker Union Wants To Impose $25 Minimum Wage On Anaheim Hotels And Event Centers
Hoteliers complained about the ordinance being brought forward without input from those best positioned to understand the impacts on hotel operations: themselves.
“We believe that the potential of the proposed ordinance being voted upon without any
involvement, input, or discussion with hospitality industry ownership or with stakeholders, such
as myself, to gain a better and more objective perspective is inappropriate and undemocratic,” wrote Donald Driscoll, general manager of the DoubleTree at the Irvine Spectrum, in a letter to the council.
Lynn S. Mohrfeld, president and CEO, of the California Hotel and Lodging Association, informed the council about the industry’s strong safety track record and communicated concerns about ulterior motives for the ordinance, saying it was “not motivated by worker safety concerns.”
“We are also extremely concerned that this ordinance would harm a hospitality industry and our
employees who are still recovering from nearly two years of pandemic-related closures that set us
and the city back months,” wrote Mohrfield.
“Should this proposal be approved as written, we anticipate a monumental impact on scheduling and
workforce management at a time when our employees are asking for greater flexibility and the
ability to have schedules and hours that make sense for their personal situations,” said Mohrfield..
The ordinance closely resembles similar ordinances adopted at UNITE-HERE Local 11’s behest in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The union is currently gathering signatures to place an even more onerous version for the 2024 ballot in Anaheim. In addition to the panic button and work restrictions, Local 11’s Anaheim ballot measure also imposes a $25 minimum hourly wage on Anaheim hotels and event centers. It also contains a “labor peace agreement” provision that is broader than Irvine’s, under which hotels can escape the wage and work rules merely by agreeing to unionize.
