Anti-Union Group Aims New Swing at Union Representing Santa Monica Hotel Workers

By Niki Cervantes
Staff Writer

April 11, 2018 -- In a new swipe, an anti-union group is highlighting a 120 percent increase in charges to “initiate” new members of UNITE HERE’s Local 11, which represents a rising number of Santa Monica hotel employees.

The organization, Eyes on 11, a product of the conservative Center for Union Facts, says the “extreme” increases shows union leaders are not concerned with the wellbeing of members.

“Local 11 officials are primarily concerned with their self-serving development agenda -- and the dues money it yields -- not their members or the residents of the cities they continue to hassle,” said Luka Ladan, communications director for the center.

A Local 11 representative said the union would not respond to the newest rebuke of its operations.

The verbal attack is the latest since Eyes on 11 opened for business in December specifically to zero in on the union.

In the last several months, Local 11 has won representation of workers at a variety of upscale hotels in Santa Monica and elsewhere in Southern California.

Eyes on 11 has criticized the union's push for more hotel development even when opposed by local residents solely to swell membership rolls and bank more dues.

Earlier offenses criticized the union for pushing for a much-opposed seven-story hotel in the Bergamot Station Arts Center and calling for bigger and taller hotels in the pitched development battle over downtown ("Local Union Criticized for Lobbying Santa Monica City Hall for Seven-Story Hotel," January 31, 2018).

The group has piqued the interest of some in Santa Monica’s slow-growth contingent as the November election nears.

The slow-growth camp saw the height-limiting measure it fought hard for, and candidates who voiced support, defeated at the polls in the 2016 elections.

Local 11, however, points to the ties Eyes on 11 has to deep-pocketed special interests that are vehemently anti-union.