Union Protests Firing of Maid After She Became a Legal Resident Alien

Disneyland Hotel’s firing of an outspoken Mexican maid who lost seniority and vacation time after becoming a legal resident alien was “retaliatory and unfair,” union officials said Thursday.

“We think it’s an important issue because of the number of immigrants in the Southern California area,” said Steven Beyer, a spokesman for Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 681.

A hotel spokesman said the union’s allegations are “without merit.”

Bought Card to Get Job

Araceli Cardoza, 21, who was employed at the hotel for 20 months before she became a legal U.S. resident, said she originally entered the United States illegally from Mexico.

“I bought a false Social Security card in Anaheim for $30 so I could get a job,” Cardoza told reporters at a news conference in front of the hotel Thursday.

She applied for a valid Social Security number once her permanent residency was granted and she received a “green card,” which is a permit that allows an alien to live and work in the United States. At the time, she earned $4.30 an hour at the hotel, she said.

But when Cardoza told hotel personnel to change her old Social Security number Jan. 30, she was suspended, she said. She was told she could keep her job but would have to forfeit paid vacation and seniority rights. When she complained, she was fired Feb. 7, she said.

Ric Morris, hotel director of labor relations, denied the accusations but refused to discuss details of Cardoza’s employment.

“The allegations are totally without merit. If they were with merit, they (union officials) would be going to state and federal organizations,” Morris said, listing employment and labor relations agencies with investigatory arms. “They choose only to try the case in the press, where there is no need to provide factual information but only to make charges.”

Morris said the hotel is prepared to defer its decision to any review by investigatory agencies.

The Disneyland Hotel, although connected to the entertainment park by monorail, is not owned by Disney but by Wrather Corp., which also owns the Spruce Goose in Long Beach.

Union officials said a protest of Cardoza’s firing will be held today at 11:30 a.m. at Wrather’s Beverly Hills headquarters.

Cardoza’s firing represents the second labor incident within five months at the hotel. The first occurred last September, when landscape workers represented by Laborers International Union Local 652 went on strike. Some of the hotel’s 1,500 employees, most of whom are represented by unions, joined the landscape workers on the picket line during that seven-week job action.

Photographed as Picket

Among them was Cardoza, who was photographed picketing the hotel by a local newspaper, said Bill Granfield, another union spokesman. During her employment, Cardoza became popular among hotel employees and gained a reputation for standing up for her rights, according to Granfield and her fellow workers. She later was selected as a member of the union’s 16-member negotiating team.

Negotiations have faltered on a new contract between the hotel and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, which represents about 900 hotel workers. The present contract is scheduled to expire Feb. 28.

Cardoza’s firing and fight for reinstatement have stirred interest among labor officials, politicians and feminist organizations in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Letters and telegrams in support of the young Anaheim Latina have been received from Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente), Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre and the National Organization of Women.

“Here we had an employee going to them to simply change her Social Security number. They didn’t come to her. And she gets fired,” Beyer said.

“She didn’t have to complain,” a Cardoza supporter said. “She could have kept her mouth shut and kept her job, although she lost her seniority and vacation time. She didn’t. She decided to fight.”

Born in Durango, Mexico, Cardoza came to the United States several years ago to live with her parents in Anaheim. Her mother is still employed at the hotel as a maid.

Learned of Workers’ Rights

At first, Cardoza found a job as a saleswoman in a clothing store where they paid her in cash.

“I couldn’t find a good job that paid well without a Social Security card, so I bought one,” she said.

At the hotel she learned about workers’ rights, she said.

“I learned that, as workers, you have a right to complain about working conditions and pay. But there are many Mexicans (immigrants) like me who are afraid to speak out. I know we have rights. I feel that by fighting this, I’m letting my fellow workers know that.”

Union officials said that employers in Southern California often seek a low-paid Mexican labor force because the employees work hard and do not complain. Morris said that practice is not followed by the hotel.

He denied that the hotel exploits its lower-paid Latino employees. He said Latinos represent about 35% to 40% of the hotel’s labor force, including some supervisors.

The hotel requires proof of citizenship and a Social Security number, Morris said. But because of laws protecting workers against discrimination, he said, the hotel cannot legally make a determination about an employee’s immigration status.

Meanwhile, Cardoza has filed a grievance seeking reinstatement and lost wages. A hearing date is pending.