Advent international-owned Aimbridge Hospitality accused of using homeless migrants as strikebreakers
November 27, 2023
Private equity firm Advent International owns hotel operator Aimbridge Hospitality.
On October 23, the Los Angeles Times reported on evidence that migrant workers bussed from Texas were found working at Los Angeles and Santa Monica hotels during a recent strike. Many of the workers were living at the Union Rescue Mission nearby in Skid Row.
Media coverage:
- Los Angeles Times, Oct 23, 2023: L.A. hotels hire migrants from Skid Row homeless shelter to replace striking workers. Gascón investigates
- NBC Los Angeles, Oct 23, 2023: DA investigating use of migrant labor by hotels facing worker strike
- KTLA 5 Morning News, Oct 23, 2023: Striking hotel workers in L.A. replaced by unhoused migrants, union officials claim
- LA Daily News, Oct 24, 2023: LA district attorney investigating hotels hiring refugees amid strike
- Daily Mail, Oct 24, 2023: Migrants living in homeless shelters on LA’s Skid Row are being hired to replace striking hotel workers
- KTLA 5 Monring News, Oct 25, 2023: Workers protest alleged use of migrants to replace them during strike
According to the LA Times:
“One migrant worker, a 17-year-old student at Belmont High School who requested anonymity, said he skipped two days of school to clean rooms at the Holiday Inn by LAX airport. He and his mother, who also secured work as a housekeeper at the Holiday Inn, received payment via banking app Zelle from a staffing agency called Arya Staffing Services Inc.”
The article conducted eleven interviews with migrant workers from Venezuela and Columbia that are in the US seeking asylum and living in a shelter that had been recruited to work in the hotels where workers are on strike for better wages, working conditions, and healthcare benefits.
The LA Times also reported that “Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón is launching an investigation into working conditions for migrants hired at hotels,” adding that “Gascón said he is concerned about potential wage theft and violations of child labor law.”
“If there are violations of the law, there will be severe consequences for this. We want to make sure that our community understands there will be no tolerance for the exploitation of refugees,” Gascón said.
At least one of these hotels, the Holiday Inn LAX, is operated by Advent International-owned Aimbridge Hospitality.
Investors should communicate with Advent International to seek an investigation and a quick resolution to the underlying labor dispute.
