Union-Busting Hotel Ordered to Rehire Fired Workers, Return to Bargaining

by Seth Michaels, Oct 5, 2009

Pacific Beach Hotel workers won a major victory last week in their four-year fight for a contract.

Last week in Hawaii, a federal judge ordered the Pacific Beach Hotel to rehire at least seven workers fired during contract negotiations. The illegal firings were part of 15 findings of unfair labor practices by the hotel. Hotel management’s behavior here is another sign that we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, to restore the freedom to bargain to all workers.

Pacific Beach workers voted more than four years ago to form a union with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 142, but hotel management used the all-too-common tactics of delay and worker intimidation, in the process denying employees the freedom to bargain for a contract. The findings of abuses by hotel management by the federal court include interrogation of employees about union support, threats of job loss or punishments for union support and targeting of contract negotiators for firing.

In January 2007, the HTH Corp., which owns the Pacific Beach Hotel, canceled a contract with its management company, hired a new management company and, in the process, laid off all of its more than 300 workers, requiring them to re-apply for employment with the new management company. Many workers, including at least seven who were active in the union’s fight for a fair contract, were left out of a job.

According to the Honolulu Advertiser, Judge James Kennedy ruled that hotel management participated in

a scheme to disguise its decision to deprive the employees of union representation and to escape its obligation to collectively bargain in good faith….

There is no debate that [Pacific Beach Hotel] engaged in bad-faith bargaining from the outset, then entered into a scheme whereby it could “wash” the union’s certification from itself and behave as if the employees never had selected the union as their bargaining representative.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officer Tom Cestare, a 34-year veteran of the NLRB, called the hotel’s actions “outrageous” and one of the worst incidents he’s seen, reports the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

In a 61-page ruling released at the end of 13 days of hearings, Kennedy ordered the hotel to recognize ILWU Local 142 as the legitimate bargaining agent, return to the bargaining table to reach a first contract, reinstate at least seven fired workers with back pay, reimburse ILWU Local 142 for costs associated with the aborted contract negotiations and reverse several other changes that have affected workers.

Dave Mori of ILWU says the ruling is a good start to achieving justice for the Pacific Beach workers, who have been fighting for the freedom to bargain for years:

This doesn’t give us a contract. We’re just hopeful that the hotel will be agreeable to follow the orders and resume negotiations….[Hotel workers'] rights were violated under the law to be represented by a union, to participate in the collective bargaining process to get a contract. What the judge basically said was everything that the hotel did was to undermine that right, even down to the termination of the employees.

None of this would have been necessary if the Employee Free Choice Act was law. The Employee Free Choice Act would prevent companies like HTH from dragging out contract negotiations for years, by providing a fair process for bargainers to reach an agreement. And if a company engaged in harassment or firing of workers seeking a fair contract, it would face real penalties.

Pacific Beach workers aren’t alone. Studies show that when workers vote for unions, fewer than half of them have a contract a full year later—and in more than one-third of the cases, workers still don’t have a contract two years later. And nearly 30,000 times a year, companies are cited for unfair labor practices like intimidation, threats and illegal firings.

The victory for Pacific Beach workers is a step in the right direction—but what we really need is labor law reform that makes sure all workers have the choice about forming a union and bargaining for a better life.

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