Unions show strength beyond their numbers
Riot police in Los Angeles, pickets in San Francisco, protesters on the streets of Santa Monica. You could be forgiven for thinking that we are speaking of anti-capitalists, or militant green activists, but the protesters were all hotel workers demanding better pay and conditions, and all the demonstrations have taken place in the past month.
The protests organised by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) are all the more remarkable in a country not renowned for workplace solidarity. Union membership in private industry in the USA is only 9.5% - and much less than that in hospitality. But the union's activities are having an effect out of proportion to its membership. It is punching above its weight thanks to men such as HERE general president John Wilhelm, credited with re-organising the union into a credible and radical force for change.
In the San Francisco dispute - a culmination of four years of deadlocked bargaining talks at the 1,500-room Marriott on Fourth Street - the union organised a two-day strike which saw 600 out of 1,100 workers walk out. In Los Angeles, marchers were protesting at conditions at the Japanese-owned New Otani hotel. Along the road in Santa Monica, in a similar dispute with the Loews Santa Monica Beach hotel, the street protest was followed by a rally attended by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
But are the efforts successful? Both the New Otani and the San Francisco Marriott claimed little or no disruption to business. Even when disputes are resolved, both sides routinely claim victory. But whatever union membership might be, the scale of the action is undeniable. A recent two-week strike in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was supported by more than 1,000 workers in seven hotels (Caterer, 29 June, page 8).
The agreed pay settlement - rises of 22-28% over five years - was lower than the union's original demands, but organisers in Minneapolis said that getting so many workers out on strike was a coup in itself.
They may have a point. Despite the headline-grabbing, HERE's 250,000 members represent only 1.4% of the industry's 18 million workers.
Intimidation
Recruitment has been difficult, said Lars Negstad, a research analyst with the union in Chicago. "US labour laws are pretty weak and companies can get away with running campaigns of harassment and intimidation that are often successful in keeping workers scared and keeping them from exercising their right to vote for the union.
"The power differential between the employee and the employer is so great. We're talking about largely immigrants and a lot of people who don't speak English," he said.
For this reason, HERE is trying a new tactic - the "neutrality clause". By signing it, management agree to remain neutral during union organising drives.
"It doesn't stop them from talking [to the employee] at all. It just removes them from the decision," said Negstad, who is involved in negotiations with Marriott in Denver over a proposed 1,100-room hotel and convention centre.
Marriott sees it differently. Although refusing to comment on HERE's allegations of harassment, Roger Conner, Marriott's vice-president of communications, said: "One thing we will not accept is a clause that basically demands that we give up the ability to talk to our people."
The same neutrality clause - successfully introduced in several Las Vegas hotels - is also an issue in the disputes at the New Otani and Loews hotels.
Union votes
In both cases, workers are trying to organise a vote on whether to have a union, and the union claims management is going out of its way to stop them.
Loews spokeswoman Jessica Berg denied HERE's allegations of intimidation of workers, which the union claimed included threats of sackings and surveillance of union meetings, and counters that activists themselves had put "a lot of pressure" on staff.
Ruth Milkman, professor of sociology at University of California Los Angeles, said HERE was a shining light in the US labour movement. "Membership across all trade unions is flat, but the potential is there [to grow]. The economy is booming and there's a lot of public awareness about inequality. A lot of unions could do what HERE is doing. It has amazing leadership."
