Union workers at the exclusive Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles have voted to authorize strike action.
Unite Here Local 11 says a possible walkout was backed by 99 percent of the workers.
The club was founded in 1895, and membership is by invitation only and comes with an initiation fee reputed to be more than $50,000
Union co-president Kurt Petersen told KNX News the union is pushing for a new contract with much higher wages and improved working conditions.
“This is a club that has the wealthiest people in Los Angeles who are its members. They can afford to pay this,” he said. “Many of those members are not only in this club, but they have second and third homes and you know, when our members can't afford one home, that's just not acceptable.”
He says that surrounding hotels have agreed contracts that will eventually pay workers $30 an hour, and the club is way behind that.
The union is highlighting the club's history of being accused of discrimination and exclusion. It only voted to admit women members in 1987, as it fought a case accusing it of gender and racial bias all the way to the US Supreme Court.
KNX News has reached out for comment to the Jonathan Club.
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