Four Points employees file charges after labor contract gets green light
Six workers from the Four Points Sheraton Hotel filed federal labor charges Thursday against union leaders and hotel managers, alleging they were coerced into organizing.
The charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that polices labor law. The workers allege they were repeatedly bribed and intimidated by organizers from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11.
Labor leaders denied any wrongdoing. They called the terms of a union contract that was hashed out with hotel managers and affirmed by workers in a vote last Saturday as “extraordinary.”
“The wage increases they’re getting there are more than they’ve seen in 20 years,” said HERE organizing director Kurt Petersen, adding workers will have lighter workloads, receive better health benefits and a paid half-hour lunch under the 18-month contract. “It’s a remarkable agreement.”
Union dues are $37 a month.
Four Points at 530 Pico Blvd. was the most recent Santa Monica hotel targeted by labor organizers, who have pledged to work towards unionizing all of Santa Monica’s large hotels. Currently, Four Points, Loews Beach Hotel, the Viceroy and the Fairmont Miramar have a union presence.
Thursday’s charges came from workers Jesse Gomez, Maria Ibarra, Frederico Iorgulescu, Raul Morales, Maria Redon and Jose Yanez. They allege union boosters supplied them with money and gifts in exchange for support. They also allege that a number of workers who first pledged union support later revoked that support. They also accuse hotel managers of recognizing a union that’s not backed by the majority of workers.
The workers hope their charges will ultimately lead to having the union invalidated at Four Points by an NLRB judge.
“These were the only six employees who dared to defy or sort of stand up to this ongoing campaign by union officials,” said Justin Hakes, a spokesman for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit organization that represents workers against unions throughout the country.
“These were the only six employees who dared to defy or sort of stand up to this ongoing campaign by union officials.” — — JUSTIN HAKES Spokesman, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
Petersen, who denied all the charges, said the anti-union sentiment reflects the residue of an intense campaign waged by managers at the hotel in prior years. He called the Right to Work foundation a right-wing outfit bent on hurting workers nationwide.
“Their mission is to kill the labor movement,” Petersen said. “Fortunately, they’re kind of a gnat on a wall and meaningless in the grand scheme... So we’re not exactly concerned about this.”
He added that a handful of workers revoked their votes and they were not counted in last Saturday’s vote. He said about half of the workers voted in the election and about 90 percent of those favored the union.
The Saturday election was held after a several-month process of gathering signatures from workers who support the union. Hotel managers agreed earlier this year to allow labor organizers into the hotel.
It’s a process called a “card check election,” because labor organizers gather signature cards from workers one at a time. It is considered by labor groups a much easier way to win the support of workers than a single-day election and therefore it has drawn criticism from groups like the Right to Work foundation, which call it a “top-down organizing effort,” meaning once managers agree to let the union in, workers are essentially powerless against it.
Tony Bisceglia from the NLRB said the charges will be investigated and a preliminary announcement will likely be issued in the next several weeks. If the charges have merit, a complaint will be filed by the labor board and, if the case cannot be resolved, it will be heard by an administrative law judge.
Hundreds of charges each year are filed with the NLRB, but merit is actually found in less than half of those, Bisceglia added.
While the dispute between the workers and their managers plays itself out with the labor board, Danny Feingold, a spokesman for Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism, said the majority of workers at Four Points are ecstatic over the recent union contract there. SMART is leading the drive for a “living wage” law in Santa Monica and is expected to present a proposed ordinance to the City Council in January.
“Clearly the hotel, the Four Points, and the workers at the Four Points, have shown a way to the future of labor relations in Santa Monica which is to work together for their mutual benefit,” he said.
<BOX>
For $37 a month...
Workers at the Four Points Sheraton on Pico Boulevard on Saturday formally accepted a labor contract negotiated by union organizers and hotel managers.
The terms include:
Free family health insurance for full and part-time employees
Pension plan
Average 20 percent wages increase
Half-hour paid lunch break
Housekeepers clean fewer rooms
Immigration protections
Source: Kurt Petersen, organizing director, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11
Kurt Petersen
Organizing director, HERE Local 11
Kurt Petersen
Organizing director, HERE Local 11
Justin Hakes
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 5, 2003. Read the original PDF.