Legendary West Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont has reached an agreement with its workers to recognize their union, spelling the end of a boycott at the celebrity playground that included protests and a picket line outside Jay-Z’s annual Oscars party.
UNITE HERE Local 11, the union representing the lodging’s staff, announced the deal on Thursday and said employees will soon begin negotiating their first contract. Signed by hotelier André Balazs and Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen, the agreement states the parties “have reached an understanding that will allow the hotel to return to its normal level of operations.”
“All prior disputes have been laid to rest,” the document says, before concluding, “We believe that it solidifies the foundation of the Chateau’s historic success: the commitment to its guests and employees, both of which are famous for their loyalty and longevity.”
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In March of this year, Chateau workers who were laid off at the start of COVID protested outside Jay-Z’s “Gold Party,” held at the hotel’s Bar Marmont. Some guests including DJ Khaled faced jeers from demonstrators as they passed the scene, and footage from TMZ showed protesters yelling “Shame on you!” next to his vehicle.
Other stars who crossed the workers’ “picket line” included Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Diddy, Zoe Kravitz, Jessica Alba, Rihanna, Jon Hamm, Tyler Perry, and Rosario Dawson—who afterward claimed she was unaware of the boycott and vowed to stop frequenting the hotel until after the labor dispute was settled.
Among the protesters was Martha Moran, who told The Daily Beast she was terminated after three decades as a Chateau housekeeper and had been struggling to pay her bills. At the time, she hoped Jay-Z and Beyoncé would find another venue for their celebrity-studded soiree. “If they go, it’s just going to tell André [and other Chateau Marmont execs] that they can do anything they want,” Moran said earlier this year.
In a statement on Thursday, Moran announced the hotel was reinstating her as a room attendant. “Housekeeping is a tough job and veteran housekeepers like myself usually have a hard time planning for retirement,” she said. “I am glad to be returning to the Chateau Marmont with a union that will help me retire with dignity and respect.”
The Chateau Marmont backlash began in spring of 2020, after the hotel terminated nearly all of its 200 non-union staff and reportedly left them without health insurance or severance. (Balazs, responding to a local councilmember's letter about the situation, claimed the hotel provided more than $250,000 to employees impacted by the COVID layoffs, ranging from $350 for newer staffers to over $5,000 for “long-tenured” workers.)
Amid the union-led battle, multiple actors, musicians and other personalities made public declarations backing the employees. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello tweeted in support of the workers in April 2021. A month later, actress Jane Fonda made a video championing the boycott, saying, “The Chateau fired almost its entire workforce. No job security. No affordable health care—during a pandemic!”
Some productions even canceled shoots at the Sunset Boulevard haunt, including Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos film and Paramount+ series The Offer.
In since-deleted posts on UNITE HERE’s website and Twitter account, the union listed other supporters of the boycott: Gabrielle Union, Spike Lee, Issa Rae, Robin Thede, Quinta Brunson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay, Ashley Nicole Black and Samira Wiley.
“The pandemic devastated tourism workers,” Petersen said in a statement on Thursday. “The workers at Chateau Marmont, like so many more, lost their jobs. But they never lost hope. They led the fight to pass right to return to work laws in California and now they are Union. They are heroes of this pandemic.”
Still, the labor protests weren’t the only issue plaguing the hotel. Several employees filed lawsuits alleging a hostile work environment for people of color.
Adrian Jules, a Black employee, sued Balazs and the company in December 2020 for discrimination, sexual harassment, invasion of privacy, bullying, and workplace harassment. His federal lawsuit is on pause as the dispute heads to arbitration in December, court records show.
Two other workers, Thomasina Gross and April Blackwell, also filed suits in Los Angeles County alleging harassment and discrimination. Both women claimed, among other things, that managers at the hotel made racist comments to Black employees.
Chateau representatives have suggested that the complaints were filed as part of the UNITE HERE union campaign, and one hotel spokesperson previously told The Daily Beast the claims in the lawsuits were “bogus” and “manufactured” for press coverage.
“These meritless allegations are all unproven for one simple reason: they were manufactured in lawsuits bought and paid for by Unite Here Local 11 as part of their targeted efforts to unionize Chateau Marmont,” the rep said, adding that “Chateau Marmont has a long and well-documented history of diversity and inclusion among both our employees and our guests.”
The spokesperson noted that Lauren Teukolsky, an attorney for Blackwell and Gross, requested dismissals of the cases soon after they were filed. UNITE HERE has previously posted on its website that “Both women's lawsuits have been moved into private arbitration, a secret court system that disproportionately affects women of color.”
Asked for comment, Teukolsky told The Daily Beast, “We are in the process of formalizing agreements with Chateau Marmont that will represent an amicable resolution of both cases.”
She couldn’t comment further but celebrated the union win on Thursday in a Twitter post.
“Still pinching myself over here,” she wrote. “Chateau Marmont going union.”
