(NewsNation) — Los Angeles County officials are investigating allegations several L.A. hotels are hiring unhoused migrants to replace striking union workers.
Hotel desk workers, cooks, housekeepers and other employees began striking in July, demanding better working conditions, higher wages and better benefits, NewsNation affiliate KTLA reported.
Roughly 15,000 employees across 60 hotels have gone on strike in Southern California since early July, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Now, the Times is reporting nearly a dozen refugees, primarily from Venezuela and Colombia, confirmed they have been hired at hotels where workers were striking outside. These migrants came from a homeless shelter on Skid Row, an L.A. neighborhood synonymous with homelessness and poverty.
“Some said they were given no prior information on how much they would be paid hourly, although others said they were told on their first day that they would be paid $19 an hour,” the Times wrote.
Federal law allows asylum seekers and refugees to work in the U.S., and hotels are technically within their rights to hire replacements for striking workers, KTLA reported. But officials with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Monday announced an investigation into labor practices at hotels across L.A. after the allegations were made public.