Unite Here protestorsThe only unionized hotels in Anaheim are the Anaheim Hilton, the Disneyland Resort properties and the Sheraton Park Hotel. Most of the thousands of hotel workers in the Anaheim Resort area are non-unionized. 

UNITE-HERE Local 11 wants to change that, which is why they have been one of the driving forces (along with their off-shoot organization OCCORD) behind what has become Measure L – the initiative to replace at-large council elections with by-district elections. Pro-union, left-of-center candidates have had little success getting elected to the Anaheim City Council. UNITE-HERE supports by-district elections as a means to elected Democratic candidates who will boost their organizing efforts by adopting Los Angeles-style ordinances such as the $15.37 hotel worker minimum wage the LA City Council approved last week

Fresh off that union win in L.A., UNITE-HERE Local 11 executive board member and contract organizer Austin Lynch has been sent to down to Anaheim to help with the big push, according to sources. That’s an indication of UNITE-HERE Local 11’s focus on doing in Anaheim what is has done in Los Angeles.