Unanswered Prayers

August 7 -- Despite passionate prayers and religious songs, hotel managers once again ignored a small group of clergy who held a vigil in front of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel to protest alleged disciplinary actions against workers who support a union and the Living Wage.

The hotel said it has no idea who is or isn't in support of the referendum on the November 5 ballot and asserted that the majority of its over 400 workers do not support the union.

Photo courtesy of CLUE

"We are here to urge the management of Loews to respect the rights of its workers," said Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, who led the crowd of about 50 in a traditional Jewish prayer wearing a holy shawl and an acoustic guitar. "And we are here to urge the Santa Monica voters to support the basic dignity of workers by saying 'Yes' to the Living Wage this November."

The clergy representing Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) delivered a letter to hotel management written by Rabbi Comess-Daniels and signed by 20 Southland religious and lay leaders. The letter claimed that there has been an alleged increase in the number of employees targeted for disciplinary actions.

Rodas Mayra, one of three workers allegedly given "a warning" for their pro-labor activities, gave personal testimony about the challenges pro-union employees face. (The other two workers failed to show up.)

"We are in a constant struggle with the managers at the hotel," Mayra said through a translator. "I just want to demonstrate that I am not afraid, and I am not scared… and that we have the right to organize a union inside."

Jose Alvarez, one of the two employees fired earlier this year for alleged pro-union activities, gave a short speech greeted by the multi-purpose war cry "Si Se Puede," or "It Can Be Done."

Reservations employee John Murphy, who like a handful of others used his lunch break to join the vigil, said: "It's just about intimidating people. Anybody who supports the living wage or the union, they (management) pick out and intimidate."

Pointing to the onlookers in suits at the foot of the hotel lobby, Murphy said that the managers "are watching us, surveying us, trying to intimidate us."

Murphy said that the hotel had hired a "union busting firm" comprised of a group of lawyers to advise management, as alleged in the letter by Rabbi Comess-Daniels.

"We are not working with anybody of that nature," said Loews spokeswoman Sara Harper, who contended that "no workers have been unfairly targeted. We have no idea who supports the Living Wage and who doesn't. We would never ask that question."

Harper added that a vast majority of the hotel's workers signed an anti-union petition circulated by an employee.

"There's virtually no support for the union (in the hotel)," Harper said. "It's not an issue of the Living Wage. It's an issue of power and greed within the union."

The vigil was attended by Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown, who welcomed the dozen union employees from the Viceroy Hotel across the street, who dropped in from their lunch break clad in spotless black and white house keeping uniforms. The hotel on City-owned land -- formerly the Pacific Shore -- became Santa Monica's second unionized hotel after the pro-labor City Council brokered a lease that paved the way for the union.

"You are not alone in this struggle," McKeown said, reaffirming his vow to support the union cause. "We will fight by your side until we all win."

McKeown then asked the crowd of 50 to follow him to City Hall, where he filed his papers for re-election.

When Loews general manager John Thacker failed to comply with the letter's demand that he show up, Rabbi Comess-Daniels and McKeown unveiled an over-blown complaint form returning the same warning allegedly given by the hotel.