> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hotel workers call for union election - URL: https://www.smdp.com/hotel-workers-call-for-union-election-2/ - Published: 2003-09-18T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T02:57:07.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import *They say a majority of workers don’t want to be unionized at Sheraton* Despite the recent consent to unionize workers at the Four Points Sheraton, many staffers say they don’t want to join Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11 and are calling for an election to prove it. “We want official votes,” said Raul Morales, a bell captain at the hotel for nine years. “We don’t want to cheat anyone. If (workers) want the union here, we will respect that.” Many hotel employees said that despite requests to be left alone, HERE organizers showed up at their homes and second jobs in a bid to sway them to organize. Earlier this month, HERE announced that a majority of hotel workers signed cards saying they were ready to join the union. Some Sheraton Four Points workers questioned whether the union really had majority support and produced a petition that appears to have signatures from two-thirds of the union-eligible workers at the hotel. Kurt Petersen, HERE’s organizing director, dismissed those claims as the remnants of an anti-union campaign waged by a Sheraton manager before they agreed to allow the card-check process this summer. The process gives union organizers two years or more to persuade workers into unionizing without an election — they simply sign authorization cards. In recent years, the union has established footholds at Loew’s Santa Monica Beach Hotel, The Fairmont Mirarmar and the Viceroy, among others. At least six other large Santa Monica hotels have no union presence. “It was a difficult, contentious fight— no question about it,” Petersen said, adding that he hadn’t seen the anti-union petition. “But despite their hard feelings, people will come together around this. It’s not a perfect workplace, but it’s better than what they had before.” > “But despite their hard feelings, people will come together around this. It’s not a perfect workplace, but it’s better than what they had before.” — — KURT PETERSEN Organizing director, HERE Many hotel workers said they were turned off by the aggressive tactics used by organizers. And they said they don’t trust promises of better wages and reduced workloads. Plus, they don’t want to pay union dues. Some told stories of relatives who had bad experiences working in unionized hotels. The workers resisting HERE said they have had no response from the National Labor Relations Board to their demands for a secret-ballot election. The NLRB, a national labor law watchdog, sets up and monitors such elections. The workers also are looking for help fromthe National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Inc., a nonprofit that gives free legal aid to workers who claim they’ve been strong-armed into unionizing. Attorney John Scully of the Virginia-based foundation said he is reviewing stacks of documents from Sheraton workers, after having them translated from Spanish to English, and expects to take on their case in coming weeks. “I do not think there was probably a majority of employees who signed to give their support,” said Scully, adding that he is still investigating claims of illegal behavior by labor organizers. Scully declined to specify the allegations, but promised to have more to say soon. 320,HERE’s Petersen characterized the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which has 300 cases pending nationwide, as a pro-business, far right-wing organization. “They make (City Councilman) Bob Holbrook look pro-union,” Petersen said. “They’re out to hurt workers... but this is a community that won’t tolerate it, I can tell you that.” Holbrook campaigned against the living wage ordinance on last fall’s ballot. The failed measure would have required businesses in downtown Santa Monica and along the coast to pay workers between $10.50 and $12.25 an hour, depending on whether they were afforded company-paid health insurance. Businesses grossing less than $5 million per year and those with unions would have been exempted, giving Santa Monica’s large hotels an incentive to organize. The battle at the Sheraton, 530 Pico Blvd., is part of HERE’s overall strategy to organize all of Santa Monica’s large hotels. Union officials have waged campaigns to conduct a card-check process. Sheraton managers agreed to the process in July, but Petersen said union officials had been gathering signatures there for months. Once the union decides to “call” the process, signatures are counted by a neutral, third party arbitrator. The signatures were counted by Sandie Richards, pastor of the Church in Ocean Park who regularly attends pro-union rallies, and Laurie Newman, deputy to State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, also a union supporter. They determined that most workers signed union authorization cards, according to a letter signed by Michael D’Amodio, general manager of the Sheraton. While negotiations get under way and Scully investigates complaints from workers, NLRB attorney Laurel Spillane said that even if a majority of workers at the Sheraton decide they don’t want to be organized, they may face some legal challenges. Because the card-check process is a private agreement, it is sometimes protected legally. But that hasn’t deterred Jose Yanez, who has worked in the hotel’s engineering department for four years, or Federico Lorgulescu, a new bartender, or several other Sheraton workers. “They’re like roaches on your plate,” said Vivian Velasquez, a telephone operator for the past six years. “They’re really pushy against people. They take their appetites away. Because of what I’ve seen, I refuse to go into the union. I don’t want it, I don’t want it here.” > “They’re like roaches on your plate.” — — VIVIAN VELASQUEZ Phone operator, Four Points Sheraton Velasquez said she doesn’t trust union promises and pointed to her husband’s experience. She said he was laid off by the unionized Beverly Wilshire Hotel after an on-the-job finger injury that temporarily cost him the use of his hand. Petersen countered that the overwhelming majority of workers favor the union. Housekeepers at the Beverly Wilshire clean eight rooms a day, while at the Sheraton they clean 16, he said. “If some people want to live in the past, it’s too bad,” he said. “We’re looking forward, not backward.” Vivian Velasquez *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 18, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)