Striking hotel workers are urging conventions to stay away from Los Angeles until the hotel industry “pays a living wage” and puts an end to violence against its striking members.

The move marks a significant escalation in the largest hotel worker strike in U.S. history. How much the campaign will affect conventions, often booked years in advance, is unclear.

The effort by Unite Here Local 11 has garnered support from several groups.

Ana Grande, executive director of the LA-based nonprofit Program for Torture Victims, said they moved an event two times in order to stand with the striking workers, who are represented by Unite Here Local 11.

“We wanted to support the union folks who are really about providing dignity to their workers,” she said.

Unite Here represents an estimated 15,000 hospitality workers at 60 Southern California hotels whose contracts expired on June 30. They launched the walkout over the July 4 weekend.

A bill recently introduced by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, would provide unemployment insurance for striking workers. Under Senate Bill 799, workers would become eligible for benefits after an employee is on strike for two weeks.

Max Arias, executive director of SEIU Local 99, said his union canceled its business with Hotel Maya in Long Beach to show support for the striking hotel workers.

“At our urging, the (Los Angeles Unified School District) school board also agreed not to do business with hotels that have active labor disputes,” Arias said. “Instead of responding with violence and threats, hotel corporations need to know that when workers are under attack – we fight back on the picket line and with our pocketbooks.”

The Coordinated Bargaining Group, which is representing the hotels in labor negotiations, said Unite Here’s call for conventions to steer clear of LA is going to backfire.

“Conventions that leave often take years to return — if they do,” said Keith Grossman, a spokesman for the group. “Our employees and union members will lose out on work, tips and opportunities should LA no longer be a preferred destination for conventions.”

Grossman said the bargaining group has been “ready and willing” to meet with the union and recently proposed two dates for labor negotiations, but Unite Here ignored the request.

Pet Health Expos, an LA-based company that showcases pet products to consumers, held a trade show in April at Magic Box LA, a 100,000-square-foot venue next to the downtown Ritz Carlton Hotel.

“We’re very supportive of the strikers and are very pro-union,” said Alan Siskind, the company’s founder and CEO. “The reality, however, is that conventions of any size are planned one to two years in advance.”

Siskind said large conventions scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of this year in LA would be nearly impossible to move or cancel, short of a major natural disaster.

“Those plans have been cemented and there are too many moving parts,” he said. “If a convention like that was canceled there would be so many lawsuits filed.”

Unite Here said the hotel strike has also prompted the Democratic Governors Association, the Japanese American Citizens League, and The Council of State Governments West to relocate, suspend or cancel their LA events.

Kurt Petersen, Unite Here’s co-president, said organizations including FIFA and the Olympics have a choice — side with the hotels, which he claims have displayed “boundless greed and violent conduct,” or back the striking workers who are fighting for a living wage.

“Which side are you on?” he said.

The union has cited several cases of violence, including an Aug. 5 incident when a striking worker was allegedly tackled to the ground by a security guard at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows in Santa Monica.

Hotel workers also claim they have been “assaulted, threatened and had property destroyed” at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa in Dana Point, which is owned by the University of California Retirement Fund and operated by Aimbridge.

Unite Here is seeking an immediate $5-hourly wage increase for all hotel workers. It also wants the hotels to continue providing family healthcare coverage for employees and it’s seeking upgrades to their pension plan as well as reasonable workloads.

The Coordinated Bargaining Group offered a wage proposal on July 18 that would give workers a $2-an-hour increase once a labor contract is ratified, followed by a $1-an-hour hike on July 1, 2024, but the union failed to accept that offer.