California officials urge Taylor Swift to postpone concert to support striking hotel workers

California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis speaks during a debate in Sacramento, Calif., on April 17, 2018, back when she was a candidate for the office. California’s lieutenant governor and other elected officials on Tuesday, Aug. 1,2 023, urged Taylor Swift to postpone her Los Angeles concerts as a way to stand in solidarity with striking hotel workers. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater, File)

LOS ANGELES— California’s lieutenant governor and other elected officials on Tuesday urged Taylor Swift to postpone her Los Angeles concerts as a way to stand in solidarity with striking hotel workers.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and dozens of state and local politicians signed an open letter telling Swift that her tour makes the region’s hotels money, with some properties “doubling and tripling what they charge because you are coming.”

Meanwhile, the letter said, many housekeepers and other hotel workers can’t afford to live close to their jobs and some sleep in their cars and risk losing their homes.

“Hotel workers are fighting for their lives. They are fighting for a living wage. They have gone on strike. Now, they are asking for your support,” they wrote. “Stand with hotel workers and postpone your concerts.”

Starting Thursday, Swift is scheduled to perform six sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. Her representatives didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the letter.

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Unite Here Local 11, which represents some 30,000 hotel workers, is negotiating for better wages, improved health care benefits, higher pension contributions and less strenuous workloads. Contracts expired last month at more than 60 hotels, including properties owned by major chains such as Marriott and Hilton.

Kounalakis, a Democrat who said she will run for governor in 2026, is the top official in the state to make the plea. She attended Swift’s Eras tour in Santa Clara, California, according to Politico.

Others who signed the letter include the mayors of several cities, Assembly Majority Leader Issac Bryan and state senators Dave Min and Maria Elena Durazo.