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Maintained by
UNITE HERE Local 30
Labor Strife Risks Risk to Revenue from Labor Strife
The absence of a labor peace agreement for either of the Lane Field hotels has provoked a labor dispute and presents a significant risk of labor strife when the hotels open. Unlike at the new Hilton currently under construction on San Diego Port property, there is no agreement in place with our organization, UNITE HERE Local 30, which would prevent labor strife and provide for a non-confrontational union organizing process among permanent hotel workers at either the Lane Field InterContinental or all-suites properties. We have sought such an agreement to partners in the Lane Field development for the InterContinental, but they have not agreed to it. The risk of labor strife at Lane Field is increased because InterContinental already operates a unionized property, the Holiday Inn on the Bay, directly next door to Lane Field. While historically Holiday Inn on the Bay has a long tradition of labor peace, the workers, their San Diego community allies, and their Union will not tolerate any attempts to drive down working conditions there to a non-union level – or to fight efforts to make improvements -- when the collective bargaining agreement expires in 2010, in the event that the nearby InterContinental opens fighting unionization. When faced with attacks on their Union or resistance to organizing in the past, Local 30 members have mobilized in high profile, protracted bitterly contested disputes. For example, a now resolved dispute at the Hotel del Coronado included an organized customer boycott, regular picketing, and civil disobedience. A similarly active dispute over organizing rights involving another local is ongoing at the LAX Hilton. The Port’s original bid solicitation for Lane Field acknowledged the potential negative effects of labor strife, including the potential impact on rents collected by the Port, by instructing bidders to state their plans for preventing labor strife for hotel operation. Hardage answered: “Hardage has consistently maintained excellent labor relations by cultivating a positive employment climate in which staff at all levels are given a sense of unifying values built on a culture of mutual respect and generous reward for personal effort.” But the dispute at the Emeryville Woodfin Suites, and the lack of an agreement in San Diego, suggest that the Lane Field hotels will be subject to exactly the sort of labor strife that the Port sought to avoid. Local 30 strongly prefers an agreement for Lane Field, like the one agreed to by Hilton. That private agreement between the hotel and the union set ground rules for conduct during a union organizing drive at the Hilton. In that case, Hilton agreed to be neutral, and to not run an anti-union campaign with its new employees; Local 30 agreed not to picket or take economic action against the hotel. Employees will thus have the option to choose whether or not they want to be represented by a union without fear or a prolonged legal battle. Hilton will get to open and stabilize their new hotel without the burdens of labor strife. |
