Interview with Iris of Santa Monica High

Angela Rívera: Why are you here?

Iris: I have known about the workers at the Doubletree hotel and it’s not just the Doubletree hotel, it’s going on at a lot of other hotels in Santa Monica. Workers are working in very poor conditions and not only in terms of working for small wages, it’s also the environment that they work in, the hostility of the employers. I’ve just heard stories. They are threatened to be fired if they get a union. The union they want is to help them to better their working conditions.

Angela: Why is this important?

Iris: This is important because I know a lot of parents from Santa Monica High School work there. Not just people in general. How can we allow our own people to be working in those conditions? It’s important to bring justice. M parents are hand workers. These are people that work hard for nothing.

Angela: Why is this important?

Iris: Because many of these people have families. How are they going to support their families? A lot of poor people go through this cycle. Your parents work hard for nothing, they get nothing, and that’s what you see your whole life. If you see that example throughout your whole life, it’s hard for you to think "I should go to college." And it’s just a cycle. Your parents work hard, and then the kids are going to have to work hard.

Angela: As a student, why do you think that student participation is important?

Angela: Why is this important?

Iris: I think student participation is very important, especially in this situation because the Doubletree is in the area of Santa Monica High School and if us students at Samohi are aware of what is going on we need to let them know that we don’t like it. Another thing is just that students have a lot of talent. Students are the ones that start marches, because they are the ones that know what’s going on, the ones that are aware of all the current issues that are going on around the world. They are usually the ones that have nothing to lose, they don’t have businesses, they don’t have any money to lose, they act with their heart and not with their greed.

Interview with Christina Ram of Santa Monica High

Angela Rívera: Why are you here?

Christina: Because I feel that we have to stand up for the people who don’t have strong voices to go ahead and get together. So they need people who are willing to get together for them to make sure that their word is spoken out.

Angela: Why is this important?

Christina: It’s important because we need to have people who are fair and when injustices start in small places, it grows, so you need to stop it before it starts.

Angela: Why does the living wage matter?

Christina: To say that they (the workers) only have a certain amount of money they can make isn’t right. They work their butts off to show that they can do stuff, and they can support their families and the living wage is important so they can have the ability to do all that.

Interview with Moises Castillo of Santa Monica High

Angela Rívera: Why is this important?

Moises: It’s important because the Doubletree workers can’t get a living wage. Without a living wage they can’t do essential things for their children and their family. They’re not being respected, they’re not being treated right. If there’s no respect in the community, the community will eventually fall apart.

Angela: Why does a living wage matter?

Moises: A living wage can make the difference between sending a son or daughter to college. Health care. The essential things that a family needs to grow up.

Angela: As a student, why do you think student participation is important?

Moises: First of all, it’s on district property. Which means that we’re directly affected by it. Without our participation none of this would be happening. It would just be five or six union people trying to set up a protest.

Interview with Maria Vivanco of Santa Monica High

Angela: Why are you here?

Maria: The reason I’m here is to fight for social justice. As a student I’ve seen for four years, in the city of Santa Monica, the struggle of hotel workers. As a student and as a Chicana, I felt it was my responsibility to come and show my support to the hotel workers and to tell the city of Santa Monica that as students we stand together with the hotel workers and we’re fighting for different causes, but eventually it’s all the same.

Angela: Why is this important?

Maria: It’s important because we let other states in the United States know that in the city of Santa Monica there are many hotels that are exploiting their workers and are denying them the union and in this state and country there are many migrant workers who are suffering in similar conditions. And we’re just trying to give them a little flavor of what marching is and what the unity between students and workers creates.

Angela: Why does the living wage matter?

Maria: The living wage matters for several reasons. One, it gives the hotel workers an opportunity to rise in this country and give their children a better education. And secondly, money talks, and in this country if you don’t have money, it’s very hard to survive and to get educated and to have the basic necessities. Why can’t hotel workers ask for just a decent living wage?

Angela: Why do you think student participation is important?

Maria: It’s important because today we’re fighting for hotel workers to have a decent living wage and to have the basic necessities and tomorrow it’s for us. Today, for them, tomorrow for us. It’s important so that we can become more conscious and aware of the issues that are affecting our community and our people.