Housekeepers and their Supporters March to Protest Work Conditions in LAX-Area Hotels
The Argonaut - November 1, 2007
An estimated 400 hotel housekeepers, clergy and community leaders marched on Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Thursday, October 25th, to raise public awareness of what they claim is a high risk of work-related injuries for room attendants in Los Angeles hotels.
The event marked the launch of a new effort by a community and labor coalition to improve the working conditions of housekeepers in hotels across the city, event organizers said.
The pilgrimage, rally and march of union and non-union workers October 25th was intended to highlight what housekeepers claim are grueling conditions they endure at the luxury hotels in which they work.
The event began with an afternoon pilgrimage at Loyola Marymount University.
Officials at the LAX-area hotels have rejected the employees' claims about working conditions and harassment of workers.
Researchers studying the mechanics of housekeeping have found that housekeepers are more likely to be at high risk for lower back injury than workers in occupations such as auto assembly and patient handling, according to the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.
Housekeepers crafted a 40-foot quilt over a four-week period to carry at the rally as a symbol of the job-related injuries they claim they suffer at work.
For over 20 years, Isabel “Segunda” Brentner has worked at the LAX Hilton, keeping her focus on her family and her job. “My priorities [were] to help my family,” says Brentner, who, along with raising her own children, cared for both her father and grandmother when they were ill. 
Enedina Alvarez, a 54-year-old single parent, says she must be both mother and father to her teenage children. Yet, with two jobs, she has barely enough money to house, feed and clothe them—and precious little time to spend with them. Although she receives health insurance through her job, she cannot afford to insure her children. Alvarez says, “I pray to God that my kids do not get sick because I cannot pay the medical bills.” 
Nearly all hotel housekeepers are women. The majority are women of color and immigrants.
