Loews Workers Allege Violations During Unionizing Campaign

By Jorge Casuso

Union organizers kept up the pressure at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel on Tuesday by charging hotel officials with a series of labor law violations.

Officials of the luxury beachfront hotel declined to accept a copy of the list of allegations, which included making a death threat against employees and union organizers, threatening employees with retaliation if they continue to try to organize a union, interrogating workers about their union activities and engaging in surveillance of workers' union activities.

The allegations - which were unsuccessfully presented to hotel officials by a delegation that included two City Council members, two members of the clergy and a dozen Loews employees -- are being filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

"I'm sad to be standing in front of a Santa Monica hotel," Councilman Kevin McKeown said during a late morning press conference. "We heard (the charges) with alarm and disgust. We are not going to let this happen in Santa Monica.

"I fear this hotel is headed down a very dark path and I would like to dissuade them from going down that path," McKeown said. "I'm thrilled to see the community standing together to say union busting is disgusting."

"What we want is for the hotel to treat employees with respect and assume a position of neutrality, nothing less is acceptable," said Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, who led the delegation. "Moses never made appointments with the Pharaoh. We will be back."

The union organizing campaign - which was kicked off with a march attended by 500 union supporters three weeks ago - has been escalating. The hotel has hired the same firm brought in by the former owners of the Miramar Sheraton - now the Miramar Fairmont --during a hotly contested four-year effort to decertify the union.

Loews workers say hotel management has recently given them raises and held daily "captive audience" meetings where they criticize the union.

"They speak against the union," said Francisco Vasquez, a kitchen worker who is a member of the hotel's union organizing committee. "They say the union is bad because the money goes to union officials."

Hotel officials say the meetings are part of an effort to inform workers about their choices.

Union organizers said they will continue to pressure the hotel with the help of the community. But they added that they would not accept a union election certified by the National Labor Relations Board.

"We'll never go for an election," said Kurt Peterson, an organizer for the local Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. They've wrecked the chance of ever having a fair election. A fair and free NLRB election is impossible.

"We'll keep on building support," Peterson said. "We have a lot of ideas. They're walking into a nightmare here in Santa Monica. They will be the next Miramar."