San Francisco hotel workers keep up fight

SAN FRANCISCO — Spirited picket lines continued this week at 14 big San Francisco hotels, as talks continued between UNITE HERE Local 2 and the Multi-Employer Group.

On Nov. 7, Local 2 members carried their struggle for a new contract to nearby Monterey. Arriving about 4 a.m., they picketed the employee entrances of the Monterey Hyatt Regency. That hotel and other Hyatts in Monterey and nearby Carmel are owned and operated by the Chicago-based Hyatt Corp. Local 2 points out that the Hyatts in Monterey have been sending non-union staff to work at the San Francisco Hyatts, which are among the hotels that have locked out their union workers since September.

UNITE HERE Local 483, which represents the workers at the Monterey Hyatt Regency, supported Local 2’s action. Local 483 has contract language giving the hotel’s union staff the right to respect picket lines sanctioned by the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, which gave the action its official OK last week.

Said Local 483’s Financial Secretary-Treasurer Leonard O’Neill, “Our members know that Local 2’s fight is our fight. If hotel workers in San Francisco are forced to pay for their medical coverage, then we will be next.” The local’s president, Julius de Vera, said of the local Hyatt management, “They entered into the fight in San Francisco, so they should not be surprised that fight followed them back to Monterey.”

On Nov. 5, more than 20 interfaith religious leaders visited the picket lines at each of the 14 hotels to express their solidarity and encourage locked out workers, before conducting a service of prayer, music and blessings at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.