Hotel Union Tries New Tactic in San Francisco
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 10/18/2004
As the San Francisco hotel strike dragged on into a third week, the union tried a new tactic: calling organizers of upcoming conventions and tradeshows to ask them to change their plans.
"We call people and let them know what to expect," said Valerie Lapin, spokeswoman for Local 2 of Unite Here.
But with city hotels booked solid during what's normally a busy travel and convention season, there's not much meeting planners can do to move attendees to nonunion hotels. And with lead times for conventions stretching a year or two in advance, making changes a week or so out is difficult at best.
"We feel for them but, at the same time, it's impossible to change gears," said Donna Karl, director of convention and meeting services for the American Academy of Pediatrics, whose AAP Natl. Conference & Exhibition ran Oct. 9–11 at the Moscone Center. "I didn't appreciate it. I've been working on this meeting for two years. You can't expect a meeting planner to change it a week out."
Karl wasn't the only meeting planner contacted by the union leadership. Representatives from the American Assn. of Orthopaedic Surgeons were contacted in advance of the group's Oct. 13–17 meeting at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, one of the hotels being picketed.
In an Oct. 4 letter to Local 2 President Mike Casey, AAOS CEO Karen Hackett branded the phone calls to her organization "harassing," pointing out that the group's meeting every four years in San Francisco delivers a $40.5-million economic impact.
"We understand the union negotiation process and your right to strike; however, we strongly feel that harassing and unprofessional tactics should not affect innocent people," Hackett stated.
Karl said service levels at the hotels were near normal, although picketers have been noisy.
Local 2's Lapin, however, said she's received reports of unmade beds, cold coffee, long waits and nearly nonexistent room service.
LightShow/West, collocated with the inaugural Digital Retailing Expo at the Moscone Center Oct. 11–12, went on as planned, said Russ Eisenhardt, president of show producer ExpoNation. LightShow/West drew 1,500 attendees to an 8,000 net square foot showfloor, while the Digital Retailing Expo featured 3,000 attendees and an 11,400 net sq. ft. showfloor.
The events' headquarters hotel, the Hilton San Francisco, was actively picketed. "We've experienced some late housekeeping in the guest rooms. Other than that, it appears normal," Eisenhardt said.
Meanwhile, negotiations continued between 14 unionized San Francisco hotels and their employees. The two sides met Oct. 8 and were planning to continue talks. Local 2 began picketing Sept. 29 at four of the hotels for a planned duration of two weeks. Management responded by locking out workers at all 14 hotels for an undetermined period. More than 4,000 workers were walking picket lines at press time.
So far, the strike hasn't spread to other cities. Unite Here workers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., voted Sept. 15 to authorize a strike. Negotiations were continuing in D.C., while in Los Angeles, workers were staying on the job but holding periodic protests outside targeted hotels.
At stake is the length of the contract. The union is pushing for a two-year contract that will end at the same time as those of other locals around the country, enabling the union to negotiate more effectively with national hotel chains.
A two-year contract is also being sought by 10,000 members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Intl. Union in Atlantic City, who have been on strike against seven casinos since Oct. 1. Members of the Las Vegas local of the Culinary Workers Union reportedly were leafleting outside casinos there in support of the Atlantic City workers.
