Battle to Unionize Loews Hotel Escalates; Death Threat Reported

By Jorge Casuso

A housekeeper of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and a union organizer filed a police report this weekend claiming that a security guard at the luxury beachfront hotel had threatened their lives.

The report - filed Saturday by housekeeper Mayra Rodas and organizer Griselda Mariscal -- comes two weeks after hotel workers kicked off a union organizing drive with a protest march attended by 500 union supporters.

Rodas and Mariscal said the threat came after they started taking pictures of the security guards recently hired by the hotel. The guards, they said, had been following them while taking notes and speaking on walkie-talkies.

"They were standing only inches away," said Mariscal, who said she and the workers were standing on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. "We started taking pictures of them and one of the security guards got totally out of hand. One of them said, 'Whoever keeps taking pictures, I'm going to kill you.' He was in our face. I thought they were going to hit us."

Rodas, who is one of 30 workers on the hotel's unionizing committee, said she got scared when the guard pointed his finger at them like a gun.

"My friend started running," Rodas said, referring to a coworker who was also there. "She said she didn't want to see any bloodshed. We thought he was serious. I cried at the police station. I was nervous and angry."

Debra Kelman, the spokeswoman for the hotel, said she was unaware of the incident.

Union organizers say the hotel has been fighting back ever since workers launched an organizing effort more than two months ago. Some of the hotel's 300 employees have received $2 to $3 raises and have been required to attend "captive audience" meetings, organizers said.

They note that the hotel has brought in labor attorneys from Cruz and Associates, the same firm hired by the Miramar Sheraton during a bitter four-year battle to keep the city's only hotel unionized.

"Loews is out of control," said Kurt Peterson, a lead organizer for the local Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. "They're acting like their workers are criminals. They've hired union busters. They're force feeding the workers anti-union propaganda. What we have here is another Miramar Sheraton."

Kelman denies that the hotel has hired "union busters" or that they are conducting "captive audience" meetings.

"There are people trying to provide information for all employees," Kelman said. "Our goal is to protect their right to make an informed decision. The hotel is working with the employees."

Kelman has said that the raises the workers have received in the last two months are the result of an effort to remain competitive in a strong labor market.