Is Unite Here Local 11 Attacking Businesses Through L.A. City Council?

We have all heard about Unite Here Local 11’s attempt to turn Los Angeles hotels into homeless shelters; But emails recently obtained from a FOIA request suggest the union has been working with the Los Angeles City Council to target other businesses in the area.

According to the emails, Unite Here Local 11 has repeatedly worked with L.A. City Councilman Curren Price’s office to boycott and investigate certain Los Angeles businesses. Price was recently charged by the LA County District Attorney with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury, and conflict of interest.

The union’s targets seem to be companies that have refused to meet its demands.  Specifically, the union sought to have a catering company investigated after the two groups had a collective bargaining disagreement.

On May 13, 2022, Local 11 sent an email to the office of L.A. City Councilmember Curren Price, requesting a phone call to look into investigating Sky Chefs (catering company).

The initial response from Price’s office was to downplay any issue with the contract, but Local 11 persisted, requesting an investigation into the company during a phone call with the council member’s office. 

A separate email sent by Local 11 confirmed that the Bureau of Contract Administration (BCA) had reached out to the union about Sky Chefs and the union thanked the office for its help.

Other emails reveal that Sky Chefs wasn’t the only company that Local 11 sought to attack through its council connections.

Emails show that the Local 11 worked with Price’s office to have the councilman endorse a boycott of Tommie and Thompson Hotels.

Local 11 even exchanged talking points with Curren Price’s office for a speech he would give at the event. Price’s office asked the union if they were supposed to read the talking points “verbatim.” 

This wasn’t the last time the union worked with Price’s office to target a local businessLocal 11 tried to loop Price’s office into its attack on the Flying Food Group just a month after its hotel boycott.

Local 11 has a track record of going after hotels that won’t play ball with the union (aka hotels that won’t allow the union to organize employees without a secret ballot vote).  Apparently, some City Councilmembers are more than happy to comply with the union’s bad behavior.