A national labor judge on Monday heard testimony in a case that accuses a Santa Monica hotel of mistreating its employees.
National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge Jay Pollack will consider the evidence and likely deliver a verdict in the next three months, said Laurel Spillane, an attorney at the NLRB.
Local union officials filed charges against the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel in April, alleging that managers illegally forbade employees from wearing buttons in support of the union. The NLRB decided in June to hold a formal hearing on the matter.
Kurt Petersen, organizing director of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11, said after the hearing that he anticipates a victory.
“Workers have a right to wear buttons,” he said. “They want to discourage and take rights away from people for as long as they possibly can. It defies logic and common sense — and the law.”
If Pollack rules in favor of the union, Doubletree managers will be required to allow employees to wear the buttons. They will also be required to post a sign for 60 days explaining the rule, Spillane said.
Francois Khoury, Doubletree general manager, said after the ruling that he isn’t sure Pollack will view the facts the same way as Petersen.
He said the union agreed in an earlier settlement that employees would not wear the buttons.
“There is an agreement on this,” said Khoury, who added that only five or six of the Doubletree’s 120-plus employees have asked to wear the buttons. “We are not hurting our employees, nor preventing them from organizing.”
Khoury said the nature of the union’s charges against the Doubletree, located at 1707 Fourth Street, show how weak the union’s case is against the hotel.
“From what I’ve been told, it’s less than 10 percent (of employees) that are asking for the union in this building,” Khoury said. “The fact that supports the feeling is the mere fact that the union has not presented us with any petition nor pushed on any other legal fronts.
3C8,“If they had more than that they wouldn’t be fighting over union buttons, let’s face it,” he added. “If they had union support (among employees) they would be fighting for a lot more than that.”
“If they had more than that they wouldn’t be fighting over union buttons, let’s face it.” — — FRANCOIS KHOURY General manager Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel
One Doubletree worker who asked not to be identified said Tuesday the pluses of organizing are still unclear and the process isn’t worth the hassle. The union turned off the majority of workers by being too aggressive in recruiting, the worker said.
“They would walk on to the property and harass people,” said the four-year employee. “People felt unsafe.”
Two Santa Monica hotels — the Viceroy and the Fairmont Miramar — are already unionized.
Two others — Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and Four Points Sheraton — have agreed to allow workers to decide if they want union representation in what’s called a “card check election.” Under a card check election, union officials have an extended period of time to gather signatures from employees who want to be organized.
Six other hotels in Santa Monica do not have any union presence at all. They are the Doubletree, Radisson Huntley Hotel, Shutters on the Beach, Le Merigot Beach Hotel, Holiday Inn Santa Monica Pier and Casa Del Mar.
Pollack gave each side one month to present the NLRB with written briefs explaining why they should prevail in the case, Spillane said. The ruling can be appealed to the NLRB itself, in Washington, D.C., and that ruling can then be appealed to federal courts.
The NLRB does not award punitive damages.
Francois Khoury
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 13, 2003. Read the original PDF.