Stand with Women Against Abuse - LAANE

Stand with Women Against Abuse

Our Stories

Long Beach Long Beach’s tourism industry is growing rapidly, as is our reputation for being a city that welcomes and celebrates diversity. With such diversity, our city leaders have continued to demonstrate their commitment to equity for everyone. It’s part of our city’s charm, and one of the many reasons that our tourism continues to grow.

Hotels contribute $16 million dollars of Transient Occupancy Taxes to Long Beach per year.1 Since 2009 the revenue generated by each hotel room in Long Beach has increased by 36 percent.2 Women make up 85 percent of the housekeepers in the Long Beach Tourism industry.3 82 percent of hotel workers at Long Beach Hotels live in Long Beach.4

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In Long Beach hotels, working women face many dangers at work, from sexual assault and harassment to heavy workloads, such as making beds and scrubbing floors, often on their knees. A 2010 survey of housekeepers in 4 and 5 star hotels found that 79 percent of surveyed workers felt that they did not have enough time to thoroughly complete their work. This may lead to increased spread of infectious diseases.

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A 2009 University of Virginia study found rhinovirus germs on 50 percent of hotel door knobs and one-third of hotel telephones. Coffee makers, shower curtains and alarm clocks also tested positive for rhinovirus. Legionnaire’s disease, which may be spread through tainted water supplies, often surfaces in hotels. As recently as 2012, this disease was responsible for the deaths of two travelers at a Chicago hotel.6 A traveler also successfully sued Celebrity Cruises in 2001 when he was infected with Legionnaire’s Disease from an improperly disinfected hot tub.6

Nationally, the average hotel room is 325 square feet. Some hotel housekeepers in Long Beach must clean up to 18 rooms a day. This is the same as cleaning nearly 2 1/2 single-family homes every day.

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“On a daily basis we lift hundred-pound mattresses and often don’t have time to use the restroom because we are constantly rushed to work faster. Very few people understand what housekeepers go through. Every day, I want to finish the job but I can’t because the quotas are so high. I speed up and my whole body gets hot. My face turns red. I feel very frustrated. It’s not possible to finish.”

“Under that kind of pressure, it’s hard to be alert and pay attention. But the minute you least expect it, you can be attacked.” —Juana Melara, hotel housekeeper

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“Once, I knocked on the door and there was no answer, but I could hear the TV. I knocked louder so they could hear me and then I looked into the room. I didn’t think anyone would be there. When I looked in I saw a man with a cell phone in his left hand. He had no bottoms on and he was masturbating with his right hand. I ran away as quick as I could and closed the door to the room very quietly. I didn’t want him to know I saw that. I never go into a room if there is a man inside now. I just tell them I’ll come back. Sometimes they insist, but I don’t go in.”

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82 percent of hotel employees have been subject to verbal aggression or incidents of “deviant customer actions on the job.” Offenders can be supervisors, or non-employees such as hotel patrons.5

“We’re supposed to respect the guest. But I’m human, too.” —Michelle Bain, hotel housekeeper

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“I served a guest once who kept asking me things about myself and my personal life that made me uncomfortable.

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Later that night, he returned to the restaurant and asked for me again. As soon as I saw who it was, I didn’t want to go out there. But I had to because we are trained to do what the guest says.

“I had to because we are trained to do what the guest says.”

He told me that I probably looked good out of my uniform and in normal clothes. He slid his room key to me and told me that I should come up later that night so we could get to know each other.”

—Nerexda Soto, hotel barista

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“Sometimes I deliver room service because we have large workloads and we’re short-staffed, but I don’t feel safe delivering orders alone. There’s one time I will always remember. As soon as I saw the guest, I knew he was drunk. He was dressed in only a towel. He kept saying things like, ‘Come on honey. Come into the room. Nothing is going to happen.’ I looked around to see if there was a housekeeper or anyone else around who could help me. But there was nobody. My chest felt tight. My heart was beating so fast.”

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68% According to the U.S. Justice Department, 68 percent of sexual assaults go unreported.

“He knew I didn’t want to go into the room. I didn’t want to go in because I was scared. I didn’t know what could happen to me. In his room, he’s in control.” —Rosa Casarrubias, hotel server

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“All forms of sexual violence are about getting power and feeling a sense of dominance over someone. This violence is purposeful and deliberate. It’s the feeling of violating a person’s boundaries and of not having the consent that the perpetrators are looking for.” —Patricia Bellasalma, President of the California National Organization for Women

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“It was chilly and I was wearing a black cardigan sweater over my uniform. Once I started working I was warm already, so I took off my sweater and hung it at the little closet we have with housekeeping supplies by the men’s restroom. I cleaned each gym machine and stocked it with water, a towel, an apple, and headphones. I cleaned the mirrors and the women’s restroom. I returned to start cleaning the men’s restroom after 45 minutes and I saw something on the floor. I was my sweater. And I thought, ‘How did it get there?’ I didn’t see anyone around. So I went to go pick it up and I saw that it was covered with semen. It was all white. I threw it away and thought, ‘People are crazy.’” 16

“I went to work and I assumed the hotel was safe. But that assumption went away after what happened to me. When that happened, I knew that we didn’t have help for anything.” —Teresita Evangelista, hotel housekeeper 17

“One time I tried to report something wrong. There was a guest that was talking to me while I was cleaning his room. I didn’t understand what he was saying. I was nervous and rushed to finish cleaning the room. But I saw him again. He came into the hallway in his robe and was taking things from my cart. I told my supervisor, and she told me to let the guest have whatever he wanted. Finally, I was cleaning my 13th room out of my usual quota of 14. I was bent over drying

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the tub in the little bathroom, and when I got up I saw him in the bathroom with me, wearing just a robe and underwear. I could see his eyes—they were all red. I tried to get out of the bathroom, but he grabbed my arm. I got into the hallway somehow and yelled for my coworkers. I saw him in the hallway behind me telling me to stop yelling. I ran into another room, locked the door behind me. My supervisor told me later she found his underwear by my cart. He said they weren’t his.”

“We go to work and we expect to come home safe to our families. How would my kids survive if I didn’t come home?” —Lorena Sandoval, hotel housekeeper

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“Hotels are fortunate enough to operate in our city and should be expected to hold up the values we as a city have prioritized. We look to our city leaders to work with community and business partners and ensure those values are upheld. ” — Eric Tandoc, Filipino Migrant Center

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“We are grateful for our hotel workers who provide care and hospitality in our community. Especially when they are exploited and abused at work, we affirm, as people of faith, that they are God’s children and their work and humanity is sacred.” — Reverend Melinda Teter Dodge and Reverend Mark Ulrickson, Los Altos United Methodist Church and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)

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Women Are Speaking Out and We Must Stand With Them

We need to make sure that Long Beach city leaders ensure safety and accountability in all our hotels so that our tourism is thriving with good jobs for our communities.

Sources 1. Recent Audit by the Long Beach City’s 5. Controller Office 2. Recent Audit by the Long Beach City’s Controller Office 3. U.S. Census Bureau, 2006-2010 American Community Survey, EEO Tabulation 4. LAANE “A Tale of Two Cities: How Long 7. Beach’s Investment in Downtown Tourism Has Contributed to Poverty Next Door” (2009)

CNN Wire Staff, “Legionnaires’ disease outbreak kills 2 at Chicago hotel,” August 28, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/28/ health/chicago-hotel-legionnaires-disease/6. Silivanch v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., 171 F.Supp.2d 241 (S.D.N.Y. 2001) Yagil, Dana. “When the customer is wrong: A review of research on aggression and sexual harassment in service encounters”Aggression and Violent Behavior 13 (2008) pp.141-152