Hotel Worker's Death Casts A Long Shadow Across Century Boulevard

Hotels along Inglewood's Century Boulevard have tried to counter a union-organizing campaign by ratcheting up pressure on employees. The stress of cleaning additional rooms and company demands to denounce the union was too much for Margarita Uriostegui.

Uriostegui suffered a devastating stroke on Sept. 28, hours after more than 300 supporters were arrested in a peaceful sit-in near L.A. International Airport. The 37-year-old Radisson Hotel housekeeper was declared dead two days later.

Los Angeles Attorney David Goldstein recently filed a claim for death benefits on behalf of Uriostegui's three sons: Ricardo, Alex and Francisco Jr. Benefits include $320,000, burial costs and unpaid medical bills. Workers' Compensation law only requires evidence that job-related stress contributed to a fatality - not that it caused the stroke.

Goldstein announced the legal action at a press conference in front of the Santa Monica office of the Workers' Comp Appeals Board. With him were widower Francisco Uriostegui, the couple's three sons, and her mother and sister.

The hotel workers' union, UNITE-HERE Local 11, held a weeklong fast in December to commemorate Uriostegui's death and redouble efforts to bring justice to the Airport Corridor.