Freelancers from Chateau Marmont and other LA hotels held a “car caravan” on Wednesday in front of the famous hotel to pay attention to their need for health insurance.
Almost all of the 242 employees of the legendary hotel were released in March without insurance or severance pay after the lockout began. “We were stopped during the pandemic and then our health care [benefits were] taken away, “Mike Racanelli, who worked as a waiter in a hotel for five years, told Page Six. “We were left high and dry.”
Martha Moran – who worked there as a maid for 33 years and had diabetes – told us, “I don’t know what I would do if I was sick.”
On Tuesday, LA board member David Ryu sent a letter to the owner of the Chateau André Balazs who offered to work with him to find a way to offer “basic protection” for workers and to guarantee “employer-sponsored health insurance for your laid-off workers.”
Balazs responded that in May the hotel “gave more than $ 250,000,” to employees. “Affected employees receive financial support that is shared fairly based on seniority, which provides a minimum of $ 350 to anyone who may have worked for only a few months to more than $ 5,000 for our highly valued and long-term employees,” said Balazs . “All our team members today maintain complete and complete health care benefits.”
