Striking hotel workers staged a noisy protest Wednesday outside the Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica, the new home of the American Film Market. Around 100 workers, members of hospitality workers union Unite Here Local 11, crowded the sidewalk alongside Pico Blvd, protesting what they call unfair working conditions for their members, some 67 of whom work at the Le Meridien Delfina.

Banging drums, tooting vuvuzelas and loudly chanting slogans, the protestors called for the AFM and those attending the film market this week to boycott the hotel. Unite Here Local 11 is in the midst of a labor dispute with the Le Meridien Delfina and several other hotels in Santa Monica and has been carrying out rolling strikes since the July 4th weekend. On Wednesday the union held similar noisy protests outside the Viceroy Santa Monica, the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, the Courtyard Marriott Santa Monica and the Hampton Inn Santa Monica all of which are full with AFM attendees.

The Le Meridien Delfina is the main AFM location, where the bulk of AFM attendees have their offices.

The union is calling for “a living wage” for its members to allow them to afford to live in Los Angeles amid rising inflation and soaring housing costs. “The average rent in Los Angeles can be $2,500 to $3,000 a month. Many of our members are one paycheck away from being homeless,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11.

Unite Here has also called out the Le Meridien Delfina and other hotels for allegedly using unhoused refugees to replace workers during the strikes.

Petersen told The Hollywood Reporter the union has evidence that hotels have been using subcontracting agencies to recruit workers from among the unhoused refugee population of the city, “some of them brought to California on buses as part of Texas Governor Abbot’s publicity stunt,” he noted. “They brought them in so they can pay them less and abuse them more and try and break the strike.”

THR spoke directly to Sebastian, a refugee from Venezuela, who claims he worked two days at the Delfina after being recruited by temp agencies while living with his partner and their 12-year-old daughter at a shelter on Skid Row. Speaking through a translator provided by the union, Sebastian said he and other refugees at the shelter received text messages, in Spanish, telling them to come to Le Meridien Delfina hotel for work. He said they were told to come in by the back entrance and were assigned various service jobs. He said he was paid in cash and by personal cheque. After two days at the Delfina, Sebastian said he worked at various other jobs provided by the agency. He said he was paid a total of around $1,500 for 17 days full-time work.

“Everything was done verbally, there were no contracts. I didn’t know how much I was going to earn, what my hours were or what my rights were as a worker,” he said. After he was spotted talking to a member of the union outside one of these jobs, Sebastian said the agency stopped calling.

“More than anything, I just want a dignified life and opportunity for my family to be happy here, because I know that life would not be possible for us [ in Venezuela,]” he said. Sebastian said he is currently applying for asylum status for himself and his family.

Last month, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón launched an investigation into the allegations.

“We take these egregious allegations with the utmost seriousness,” the DA said in a statement. “The mistreatment of vulnerable workers and their exploitation will not be tolerated.”

The strike and march come as Unite Here is also pursuing a ballot initiative, the Responsible Hotel Ordinance, for the California elections in March of next year. The measure is aimed at addressing L.A.’s affordable housing crisis by, among other things, requiring new hotel development projects to replace demolished or converted housing with an equivalent amount of affordable

housing at or near the project site. The ordinance would also create a program, which would require hotels to provide temporary lodging for unhoused families and individuals in their vacant rooms, with the costs covered by the city.

Angelenos Protecting Hospitality, a lobbying group representing hotel owners, has attacked the ballot initiative, saying it will turn “all LA hotels into homeless shelters” and “destroy the city’s tourism industry.”

“I find it highly ironic that the only unhoused people allowed in hotels are the refugees brought in to work there,” Petersen said.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, AFM organizers IFTA said they were aware of the allegations and the investigation but said they were “not a party to the dispute” and could not comment on the validity of the claims or the circumstances surrounding the strike. IFTA noted that it signed a multi-year deal to move the AFM from his long-time home at the Lowes Hotel —which is currently undergoing renovation —to the Le Meridien Delfina back in “March of this year, well before Unite Here Local 11 commenced a strike against these hotels and targeted our event.”

Despite the dispute, IFTA President and CEO Jean Prewitt said AFM, which runs through Sunday, Nov. 5, remains open for business.

“The market is active, the services our participants require to conduct business are running efficiently,” said Prewitt. “We have enhanced our professional security teams in and around the venue and are making small adjustments as needed.”

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the Le Meridien Delfina for comment.