Protesters march from City Hall to Four Points Sheraton Hotel
About 100 hotel employees and activists rallied in front of City Hall Tuesday, demanding a Santa Monica hotel allow its workers to unionize.
Protesters marched from City Hall to the Four Points Sheraton on Pico Boulevard to deliver a message to the hotel’s management that they won’t give up their fight to give workers better conditions and benefits in their jobs.
Employees of the hotel — which is owned by the Kor Group — accuse management of mistreating workers and waging a closed-door campaign against unionization efforts. The workers have asked hotel management to let them decide for themselves whether they want to unionize.
“We want to be heard,” Maria Mena, an 18-year employee of the Sheraton, said through a translator. “It is unjust what they are doing.”
Mena, originally a supervisor of housekeeping at the hotel, said she was laid off in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. After months of joblessness, Mena said the hotel brought her back on a contractual basis and at a reduced rate.
Instead of making $10.25 an hour, as she had before the layoff, Mena said the hotel now pays her $8.55 an hour.
Organizers say the problem is particularly acute because employees at the nearby Viceroy, an upscale hotel also owned by the Kor Group, are treated much better because they are unionized.
Viceroy employees enjoy pensions and paid half-hour lunch breaks while Sheraton workers, who miss those perks, make less money and can be laid off without notice or cause, they said. Also, the starting wage for a housekeeper at Four Points makes $1.30 less than the starting housekeeper at Viceroy, organizers said.
But what is even more important is for hotel workers to be given the chance to organize, said Kurt Petersen, organizing director of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Union Local 814.
Petersen said Viceroy employees have a “voice” on the job, while Sheraton workers cannot speak without “fear of reprisal.”
7D8,“Ultimately the boss can match wages and benefits,” he said. “But they can’t match respect.”
Workers at the Sheraton are currently trying to unionize by a “card check” system — the same way the Viceroy did in 2001.
“We want to be heard. It is unjust what they are doing.” — — MARIA MENA Four Points Sheraton housekeeper
Under the card check system, hotels must recognize a union as the bargaining unit for its workers if a majority of the employees sign cards saying the union represents them.
Jessica Coleman, a spokeswoman for the hotel who said she wasn’t aware of the rally and didn’t know the status of the union talks, maintained the hotel’s owners have a reputation in Santa Monica for treating employees well.
“(The Kor Group) values every employee,” she said. “From their standpoint, employees at both of those properties are treated equally.”
“This whole union versus non-union (debate) is all employee choice,” she added. “(The Kor Group) values employee choices.”
Councilman Kevin McKeown, who on Tuesday had spoken with Brad Korzen, the hotel’s owner, addressed the crowd in front of City Hall and told protesters he had hoped to bring a message that the “log jam has broken.”
“The moment has not yet come,” he said. “But it will come. The City Council is committed to making sure worker’s rights are protected.”
School board member Oscar de la Torre also spoke at the rally, encouraging the workers’ efforts to be recognized and accusing Sheraton of sending a message to the community that “inequality is OK.”
“Fairness and justice can prevail when people organize,” he said.
After the speeches, protesters took to the streets and, flanked by four police motorcycles, marched down Pico Boulevard to the Sheraton chanting in Spanish and English, and pounding on plastic drums.
At the hotel, management wasn’t available to accept a letter from the workers detailing their complaints.
“The manager was hiding like the Taliban,” said de la Torre, who attempted to deliver the letter, along with a collage of pictures depicting similar protests at other hotels. “He didn’t want to talk to anyone.”
Protesters eventually disbanded, chanting, “We’ll be back.”
- Maria Mena, housekeeper, Four Points Sheraton
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 26, 2003. Read the original PDF.