Union Files Charges Against Four Points

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

April 3 -- The local union Thursday charged the Four Points Sheraton Hotel with bribing and threatening workers engaged in an organizing drive launched at the Pico Boulevard hotel last week.

The charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), Local 11, also allege that management -- which union officials say is engaged in a “dirty, unlawful campaign” to stifle unionizing activity -- sponsored the circulation of an anti-union petition.

The union -- which kicked off the campaign with a rally attended by some 200 supporters March 25 -- is demanding the same wages, benefits and working conditions enjoyed by their counterparts at the unionized Viceroy hotel, which is also owned by the Kor Realty Group.

”All the Four Points workers are asking is that they be treated the same as the workers at the Viceroy,” said Kurt Petersen, Organizing Director for HERE Local 11. “Rather than respecting the workers’ wishes, Kor has engaged in a dirty, unlawful campaign. It is a shame because Kor is wrecking the good work that they did at the Viceroy.”

Kor officials did not return phone calls for this story

Viceroy housekeepers clean three less rooms a day than the 4 Points workers and have a paid 30- minute lunch period and regular wage increases, according to the union. In addition, Front Desk Agents make more than $2 an hour more at the Viceroy than their counterparts at the Four Points.

Formerly the Pacific Shore Hotel, the Viceroy, which sits on City-owned land, became Santa Monica's second unionized hotel in November 2000 after the City Council included an unusual clause in its lease mandating that Kor remain neutral in any union organizing drive.

Hotel management allegedly promised and gave benefits to some employee while threatening others with losses to discourage their support for the union, organizers said.

The employees are asking that the Four Points agree to remain neutral and accept a card-check process that would recognize HERE as the employee bargaining unit if a majority sign the union authorization cards.