San Francisco Hotel News & Labor Updates

November 16, 2010 UNITE HERE Local 2 Asks Hotel Union Members For $1 Million To Continue Actions that Hurt Employees, San Francisco, Labor Teamsters, Painters, Engineers, Garage Unions All Sign Labor Agreements with Hotels San Francisco — Just as many local unions are signing labor contracts with San Francisco hotels that ensure quality pay and benefits for their members, UNITE HERE Local 2 has announced that it wants to take $1 million from its members to expand its labor actions against San Francisco hotels. “Local 2 is out of touch with reality and out of touch with other San Francisco Bay Area union leaders and union members,” said Patricia Breslin, executive director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, the trade association representing the City’s hotels. “While other unions are negotiating or signing agreements, Local 2 is attempting to raid its own members’ strike fund to continue disruptive labor actions.” A number of San Francisco hotels recently signed labor agreements with Teamsters Local 856 and Teamsters Local 665, representing staff in the front office, concierge, accounting, reservations, sales, engineering administration, banquet administration, and garage; Local 39 Engineers Union, representing engineers; and Painters Union Local 4, representing painters. The only holdout is UNITE HERE Local 2, which is asking its members to vote Wednesday, Nov. 17, to take $1 million from its strike fund “for expenses related to the hotel contract campaign…including costs to advance boycotts, research and corporate campaign activity and internal and external organizing,” Breslin said. The hotels’ contract with Local 2 expired August 2009. Since that time, Local 2 has failed to negotiate a contract with any San Francisco hotel and has engaged in more strikes and labor actions than negotiating sessions. “What does it say about Local 2 that they are seeking to continue labor actions in San Francisco that hurt its own members?” asked Breslin. “UNITE HERE has signed agreements with hotels in Southern California and Monterey. You have to ask yourself: what is wrong with Local 2 and its leader Mike Casey and why won’t they negotiate in good faith to get a contract that will benefit everyone?” Hotels in San Francisco have excellent labor relations, Breslin said. But they are concerned, as are other business leaders, that Local 2’s continuing disruptive efforts against visitors, convention meeting planners, the hotels, and its own members will harm the economic recovery that is just beginning in San Francisco. During the past year, Local 2’s labor actions and mini-strikes have cost San Francisco about $10 million in lost business and The City has lost about $1 million in hotel tax monies, according to the Hotel Council. –30– [...]

October 14, 2010 Hotel, Business Leaders Unify, Call For Responsible Action From UNITE HERE Local 2 Union is Hurting Employment, Economy, City of San Francisco San Francisco—Hotel and business leaders today called the hotel employees union UNITE HERE Local 2 one of the leading threats to the economic recovery of San Francisco because of its irresponsible behavior and harmful actions such as boycotts, walk-outs, strikes and protests. In an unprecedented gathering of business groups, hospitality organizations and community leaders today at a media conference, San Francisco business leaders called upon Local 2 to rejoin hotels in negotiations and reach a long-term contract. Talks began more than a year ago when the contract expired on August 31, 2009. Yesterday, Local 2 began a six-day strike at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt, and other business leaders pointed out that hotels in San Francisco have been the target of boycotts, protests and other labor actions by Local 2 at various times for three of the past six years. “The economic foundation of San Francisco’s economy is tourism and hospitality which produced $7.8 billion in business in 2009 and is responsible for more than 20,000 direct jobs–and numerous indirect jobs–and provided $426 million in taxes to San Francisco just last year,” said Michael Dunne, general manager of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. “It’s time that Local 2 stopped picketing and boycotting and become a responsible member of our community. The first step they can take is to negotiate a new contract.” Hilton is offering the union a contract with pay hikes as well as increases sufficient to meet the reasonable needs of the healthcare fund, with no employee contributions. He said Local 2 is out of touch with economic realities. “Their current proposal would increase labor costs over 25% in the next three years alone, including wage increases of up to 7% each year and over the next three years a 35% increase in our health fund contributions and an over 30% increase in our pension contributions. The union has proposed a substantial increase in gratuity compensation of banquet servers, many of whom earn over $100,000 annually,” explained Dunne. Dunne said it’s time for Local 2 and its leadership to negotiate a contract. “UNITE HERE has negotiated new contracts with Hilton this year in Houston, San Diego, Minneapolis and San Juan, P.R. The question in San Francisco is what is wrong with Local 2 and why do they insist on fighting instead of negotiating a new contract?” Dunne asked. Joining Dunne at the conference were: Steven Falk, president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce; Patricia Breslin, executive director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco; Toni Knorr, general manager of the St. Regis Hotel; Clem Esmail, general manager of the San Francisco Sheraton Palace; Mark Fenton of the Hyatt Grand Regency Hotel; Michael Pace, general manager of the W Hotel; Dan Kelleher, general manager of the San Francisco Marriott; Scott McCoy of the Renaissance; Richard Hill, manager of the Westin St. Francis Hotel; and Oscar Rodriguez and Debbie Bonafede of Marriot Hotels and Resorts. “Local 2 is attempting to drive business away from San Francisco at a time when the City desperately needs visitors and the money and jobs tourism brings with it to local economy,” said Patricia Breslin, executive director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco. “It’s time for Local 2 to stop harassing potential visitors and to return to the bargaining table for the benefit of its own members, the economy of the city and the health of the hospitality industry.” Wages and benefits for hotel employees average approximately $60,000 for housekeepers and some bartenders and banquet workers make more than $100,000 annually. All employee healthcare costs are fully paid by the hotels and they receive nearly five weeks paid time off each year as well as three free meals each day as part of their employment package. In June of this year, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau took the unprecedented action of censuring and then expelling the union and its president Mike Casey from the 1,700 member bureau. The union had repeatedly discouraged and intimated conventions and travelers from doing business in San Francisco as part of its labor negotiation strategy.

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Hotel Council Urges Union Leaders to Negotiate New Contract Local 2 Walks Away From Negotiations, Rejects Meetings October 13, 2010 San Francisco—Hotel leaders today urged the union officials to come to the table to negotiate a contract for benefit of all of San Francisco’s union hotel employees, saying that the strike action today against the Hilton San Francisco Union Square is harmful to employees, the City of San Francisco and the union itself. “Local 2 is making a terrible mistake by forcing its members into a strike against the Hilton,” said Patricia Breslin, the executive director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco. “This strike is a self-inflicted wound by the union to its members and the City. The hotels are struggling, the city is struggling, working people are struggling, and anything that hurts the economy is bad for all of us.” The contract between San Francisco’s hotels and Local 2 expired a year ago in August 2009. Wages and benefits for hotel employees average approximately $60,000 for housekeepers and some bartenders and banquet workers make more than $100,000 annually. All employee healthcare costs are fully paid by the hotels and they receive nearly five weeks paid time off each year as well as three free meals each day as part of their employment package. Hilton General Manger Michael Dunne said despite the strike “our hotel is operating normally and is fully operational. We are using our managers and temporary replacements in the place of striking employees, with little or no disruption to guest services.” The Hilton San Francisco Union Square is the largest hotel in California with 1,902 rooms. He said Local 2 has only sporadically met with hotel management for negotiations and in recent weeks has refused to return to the table to meet with Hilton representatives after walking away from negotiations without ever coming back to contract talks. “The irony of Local 2’s efforts is that instead of harming the hotel chains they rally against in contract negotiations, the travelers and conventions they try to turn away from San Francisco simply go to the same hotel chains in a different city,” Breslin noted. [...]

September 2, 2010 The Hotel Council of San Francisco today announced its disappointment in UNITE HERE Local 2’s continued attempts to discourage business from coming to San Francisco to the detriment of its members and the economic recovery of San Francisco. UNITE HERE Local 2, the labor union representing hotel workers, has dispensed a year of counter-productive activities after its members’ contracts ended in August 2009. Instead of focusing attention on talks at the bargaining table with hotel management to negotiate fair contracts, union leadership has organized protests and strikes that have cost San Francisco millions in lost business. This week, the group has planned two additional protests at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency and Burlingame Regency Hotel on Thursday, September 2. “San Francisco hotels continue to encourage Local 2 leadership to come to the negotiating table, instead of wasting their members’ precious time at the picket line,” said Patricia Breslin, Executive Director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco. “These illogical protests work against the common objective of finalizing contracts for hotel workers and getting San Francisco out of this economic slowdown.” Local 2’s leaders have issued calls for convention planners to boycott San Francisco , to cancel their plans to hold large events here, and to prevent the planning of future events. Because major conventions need to plan a year or more in advance – and usually alternate their location between East and West coasts – this boycott could have the effect of costing San Francisco three or four years’ worth of convention business. “No one can afford more hotel protests – not our employees, our guests, our industry, or our City” continued Breslin. According to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, 10 conventions and meetings have either canceled or opted not to come to San Francisco this year, citing labor issues as one of the reasons. This loss of events has cost the City more than $8 million in hotel rooms, transportation, retail sales and visitor attractions. When visitors come to San Francisco, only 30 cents of every tourism dollar is spent in hotels; the other 70 cents supports taxi drivers, servers at restaurants and bars, tour guides, and unionized convention center workers. The actions orchestrated by Local 2’s leaders have been costly to thousands of San Francisco workers in the tourism industry and they have been a direct drain on the city’s already depleted coffers. ”Now is the time for productive contract talks for the benefit of all parties involved.” Breslin concluded. [...]