Two Dozen Arrested in Union Protest

By Jorge Casuso

Two dozen union supporters were arrested Thursday afternoon when they blocked the entrance to the pier during a smoothly orchestrated demonstration against the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.

The demonstrators - who sat in a circle holding hands at the intersection of Colorado and Ocean avenues - were surrounded by nearly 50 officers in riot helmets, who began arresting them one by one after they failed to disburse. The protestors were taken to the city jail and released a few hours later.

The peaceful protest capped a four-day campaign to increase community pressure on the luxury beachfront hotel where workers kicked off a union organizing drive a month ago.

"The battle for justice never stops and Santa Monica is now ground zero for the battle for worker justice," City Councilman Richard Bloom said at the start of the demonstration.

Nearly 250 workers and their supporters gathered at the foot of Pico Boulevard, then marched - pushing beds and cardboard vacuum cleaners -- to the Loews hotel, where they held a spirited rally that included giant puppets representing a worker, the hotel's owner and a "union buster."

"We're asking Loews to fire the union busters and let us organize with freedom," said Edith Garcia, who has worked as a housekeeper at the hotel for 10 years. "We want a fair process."

The demonstrators then marched banging buckets and drums to the entrance of the pier, where they set up a table and staged a mock trial that accused Loews management of trying to buy workers off with raises and hiring "union busters" to denigrate the union.

"The management say the union is a member of the Mafia and that the monthly fees are high," one worker said in a mock testimony. "If you unionize, we'll take away your food and your parking."

After listening to the charges, the crowd chanted, "Guilty, guilty, guilty...."

The demonstrators then sat at the intersection, as police diverted traffic to other streets. Rev. Sandi Richards, the pastor of the Church in Ocean Park, stepped forward in a flowing white robe and gave an invocation.

"Send forth your spirit and we shall bring forth hope and justice in our town," she said, her arms upraised.

As police surrounded the protestors, most of them disbursed, leaving two dozen holding hands in a circle and chanting "The workers united will never be defeated." The officers then began to remove the remaining protestors one by one, in some cases using plastic strips as handcuffs.

The demonstrators were put in a wagon and a van and transported to the jail two blocks away. The demonstrators followed, and when police blocked the entrance to police headquarters, circled the City Hall parking lot chanting, "Let them go, let them go...." They then headed back to the union hall at Sixth Street and Colorado.

Despite the increased pressure on the hotel, the union and Loews management remained deadlocked.

As the workers gathered outside the hotel Thursday, Loews officials reiterated their insistence on an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

"The union has a right to protest, but the bottom line is our workers have the right to decide a union under a free election," said Jessica Berg, a spokeswoman for the hotel. "We're ready to have the election today. They feel they can't win, so they don't want an election."

The local Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union - which is pushing for a card check election that requires hotel management to remain silent on the issue -- opposes an NLRB election. Union leaders contend that such an election allows management to organize a campaign and that the results could take years to appeal by either side.

"In a card check election, they don't have control," said Kurt Petersen, the union's lead organizer. "In an NLRB election they can appeal. It's a dead end path no matter which way we go and they know it."

The union recently filed 23 charges with the NLRB. The charges include threats, intimidation and harassment by hotel staff. Hotel management counters that none of the charges have yet been substantiated.

At the union hall parking lot after the protest, Petersen claimed a victory in the ongoing battle. He pointed to an expensive full-page ad taken out by the Loews in a local paper stating the hotel's position.

"We know that we're winning when the company is reacting, and that's a big reaction," he said.

Petersen also noted that the demonstration and arrests had been covered by press from as far as Boston and London.