L.A. hotel settles union-button dispute
After suspending its workers for wearing union buttons three times in the last year, the Westin Los Angeles Airport hotel has reversed course -- agreeing to allow small buttons and to provide back pay to those who were previously disciplined.
The hotel’s turnabout came in a settlement reached late Friday with Unite Here, the international hotel workers’ union that is attempting to organize nonunion workers at the Westin and a dozen other hotels near Los Angeles International Airport. The unionization effort is one of the largest in the country.
The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint this year against the hotel for barring the union buttons. The settlement was made just three days before a hearing that was scheduled for Monday.
As part of the deal, the union asked the labor board to withdraw its complaint against the Westin.
That complaint involved the suspensions of eight employees last July and 39 workers last August for wearing union buttons. Under the settlement, those workers will be paid for the time they were suspended.
The settlement also covered 34 employees who were suspended for one day last Wednesday after showing up to work with union buttons and refusing to remove them.
Those workers will be paid as though they had worked that day, according to the settlement.
The hotel, which acknowledged no wrongdoing, also pledged to post notices inside the hotel stating that employees can wear one union button each as long as it is no bigger than 1 1/4 inches in diameter.
Efforts to reach the hotel’s general manager were unsuccessful.
In a statement, Unite Here called the settlement “a major concession” by one of the hotels that has fought unionization the hardest.
