Hundreds of Demonstrators March on Loews, AFMA

   On Thursday, February 22, an estimated 300 demonstrators marched to the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and continued north to the Santa Monica Pier -- site of the American Film Market (AFM) Annual Awards Ceremony. 
   The American Film Marketing Association (AFMA) has used the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel as its headquarters for its eight-day convention for the last ten years. According to Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) organizers, Loews management "unilaterally changes and reduces hours for many workers, and alters their working conditions at will" during the Market.
   To protest this policy, the group, made up of Loews Hotel workers, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union #11 and #814 members and other supporters, held a short rally where Pico Boulevard meets the beach.   Protestors then marched up Ocean Avenue, stopping in front of the hotel to perform street theatre enacting "how the American Film Market is hard on Loews workers," says HERE organizer Connie Razza.
   According to Razza, the group was joined at that point by several AFM attendees, who marched with the group to the site of the awards ceremony, at times blocking traffic to the annoyance of motorists. After a failed attempt to "deliver demands" to AFMA event organizers, the group disbanded. "Our point was to take our demands to the AFMA and remind them how badly Loews treats its workers," Razza says.
   The protest marks the return of public demonstrations organized by HERE against Loews in the battle for unionization that has been going on since last May.