Mayor pro tem Kevin McKeown
			This report, submitted to the community by the dozen local leaders listed at the end, details a hearing held late in 1997 about an out-of-town consulting firm hired by a multi-national hotel chain to do "union-busting" in Santa Monica.

PLEASE NOTE that information in this document refers to the previous management of the Miramar Sheraton, not the current owners of the Fairmont Miramar -- who have signed a mutually beneficial new contract and fully recognized the union since taking over!

Report on the Miramar Sheraton Election Hearing
(Held December 15, 1997 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium)

Executive Summary

Background

The Miramar Sheraton Hotel, located in Santa Monica, California, has long been a respected anchor in the city's tourism industry and has been unionized for well over 20 years. For the past several years, President Clinton has used the Miramar Sheraton as his headquarters when visiting Los Angeles. Since mid-1995 an ongoing struggle has taken place there, largely invisible to hotel patrons and the surrounding community. In May of that year a petition was submitted to decertify the union representing its workers, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE), Local 814. Beginning in 1996 escalating hostility towards pro-union workers, including termination of the top rank and file union leader, caused the union to file numerous unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

In 1997 Miramar employees, anticipating that the upcoming decertification election could get very contentious, appealed to the recently formed Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism (SMART) to support their efforts for a fair and open election process. SMART's first goal was to seek assurance that Miramar management would remain neutral during the election. When their efforts met with no response, SMART decided to sponsor a secret-ballot election, with the participation of numerous community leaders and clergy, to gauge Miramar workers' interest in retaining their union. Held on September 3, 1997, the workers voted in private on the sidewalk outside the employee entrance to the hotel, choosing decisively to retain the union (146-10). Following the community election, management hired a consulting firm specializing in anti-union campaigns and escalated efforts to defuse support for the union.

The October 1 decertification election, which resulted in a 120 to 108 vote loss for the union, and the controversial events leading up to it, caused great concern among community members and extreme distress for hotel employees. As one employee stated, "This [election campaign] was the worst experience of my whole life." On December 15, 1997, three Santa Monica City Council members, with the support of SMART, convened a hearing before a twelve member panel, to hear firsthand testimony about the dispute from hotel employees, management and community members. The hearing was designed and conducted in an impartial manner, setting aside equal time for Miramar management to give oral testimony and submit written materials. Miramar officials failed to respond to the invitation to testify and did not appear. Over 300 community members attended.

This summary includes the findings and recommendations and is followed by a more indepth report on the hearing along with supporting documents.

Findings

Based on evidence and testimony presented at the hearing panelists agree that:

1) The Miramar Sheraton and the consulting firm it hired, Cruz and Associates, engaged in an aggressive anti-union campaign. Testimony stated that employees were threatened, coerced and intimidated in attempts to discourage support for the union.

"Before the campaign, managers showed little interest in being present at the restaurant. However, once the campaign started they were continuously hovering over our shoulders. The most denigrating experience was when management and then security took turns following me to the locker room and bathroom. I felt that they could at any moment invent something to fire or discipline me and that I would be defenseless."
Joseph Jara

2) The majority of the employees at the Miramar Sheraton supported having union representation, based on the results of a fair election held by religious and civic leaders one month before the NLRB election;

"When we had the Community Election, we won many votes because there wasn't any pressure. Everything was normal. We talked with our co-workers at work. Everyone was in agreement and we got their votes. But during the NLRB election campaign there was pressure everywhere."
Eliazar Diaz

3) The failure of hotel management to remain neutral during the election campaign created an unbearable work situation and an environment overtly hostile to legally protected union activity;

"Management ...became watch dogs, and spent more time watching me and the other union supporters and campaigning against the union than they did doing their management duties. If any employee stopped to speak with me about anything... management would come up to us and say, 'You can't talk about the union,' or 'What are you talking about?'"
Julio Valera

4) Management retaliated against employees involved in lawful union activity. Retaliation specified during testimony included termination, inequitable pay raises, issuance of warnings and control of speech and movement;

"...Every one else got raises, even those who are over scale, and the only one who did not get a raise was me because I was the union leader. What made me even more angry was that two of the most anti-union workers got big raises. One of them got a $3.50 an hour raise, or more than $7,000 per year. Another got a $2.50 an hour raise, or more than $5,000 a year."
Avelino Alvarez

5) Hotel management violated community trust and values, as demonstrated by its lack of response to community members' concerns, and its hostile campaign against the union;

"On July 7, I placed the first of many phone calls to the General Manager William Worcester. I wanted to establish rapport with him, and allow him to present the situation from the Hotel management's perspective. I had one conversation with him- he ignored virtually every attempt I made to meet with him and try to find some common ground."
Rev. Sandie Richards

6 )The hotel management utilized racial and anti-Semitic stereotyping in its efforts to portray the union in a negative light.

"As a Jew and the wife of a immigrant, I was most shocked and angered that the hotel chose to post a cartoon...that portrayed a union organizer as Hitler, the man who imprisoned immigrants and killed six million of my people. As a result of this poster, I will never again trust the people for whom I work."
Gail Escobar

7) The NLRB process doesn't adequately protect workers. It permits the use of "union-busting" firms. It doesn't require employer neutrality, nor account for the imbalance of power between employers and employees in allowing activities such as mandatory captive audience meetings. While the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) permits these activities, it is slow to respond to those activities that aren't permitted;

"The final [captive audience] meeting -- labeled as an employee rally -- took place in a darkened room. Mr. Worcester... dressed up as Darth Vader -- mask, cape, and light saber. He tore off the mask, and with disco lights and music blaring, pounded out an anti-union speech. It was surreal. During the meeting, managers sat on either side of me. Numerous security guards surrounded us... I was petrified."
Gail Escobar

8) The treatment of workers found during the pre-election period at the Miramar Hotel is unacceptable and should never happen again, at the Miramar or anywhere else in Santa Monica.

9) The city of Santa Monica needs to adopt policies to support its values in the area of workers' rights throughout the city;

Summary Recommendations

1) Do everything in the community's power to promote neutrality by management during future labor disputes or elections at the Miramar Sheraton and elsewhere throughout the city.

2) Explore methods to protect workers from consultants who help companies "bust" unions in the city of Santa Monica. Hiring firms whose job it is to help anti-union companies get around the letter of the law is unacceptable.

3) Develop a statement of "Community Standards For Work In Santa Monica" in relation to workplace rights in the city.

4) Encourage the tourism industry in Santa Monica to meet the "Community Standards" developed by the city. For example the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) could provide regular status reports on labor relations in the industry and employee representatives could be included on the CVB board and other appropriate boards and commissions.

5) Research ways Santa Monica can defend and strengthen workers' rights in the city, for example setting a living wage standard.

6) Create a public dialogue around issues of work, the right to organize and community standards.

7) Develop economic, political and moral support to recognize businesses who adhere to Community Standards. Develop strategies to bring employers willing to violate Community Standards into compliance.

8) Develop a framework through which community members and institutions can commit to protect employees from employer retaliation for union activities.

The Miramar Election Hearing panelists respectfully submit this report to the community and all interested parties and hope for support in implementing the recommendations and reaching the goal of a secure and respectful workplace for all of Santa Monica's workers.

Rev. Janet Bregar, Executive Director, Westside Interfaith Council
Dr. Alan Buckley, Chair, Academic Senate, Santa Monica Community College
Rick Chertoff, Executive Director, Jewish Labor Committee
Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, Beth Shir Sholom Temple
Rev. Jim Conn, former Santa Monica Mayor
Mike Feinstein, Santa Monica City Councilmember
Ruth Milkman, UCLA Sociology Professor
Pam O'Connor, Santa Monica Mayor Pro Tempore
Margaret Quinones, Member, Santa Monica School Board
Paul Rosenstein, Santa Monica City Councilmember
The Right Reverend Chester Talton, Bishop Suffragen, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
Assm. Antonio Villaraigosa, State Assembly Speaker