Minor Fire Damages Disneyland Hotel : Anaheim Fire Marshal Links 6 Arson Blazes to Labor Dispute

A small fire broke out in a telephone switching room at the Disneyland Hotel early Tuesday, the latest in a series of arson blazes that fire officials have linked to a 2-month-old labor dispute.

“There’s no doubt in our minds” that six fires at the hotel since Feb. 8--none causing significant damage--are related to a contract dispute between hotel management and 1,200 employees whose contract expired at the end of last month, Anaheim Fire Marshal Mike Doty said.

The most recent blaze was ignited about 45 minutes after midnight in a switching room on the second floor of the hotel convention center, when someone apparently wrapped towels around several telephone lines and stuffed papers underneath them. An automatic sprinkler system extinguished the fire before the hotel’s audible alarm system was triggered, and most of the $15,000 damage was caused by the water.

Other Fires ‘Very Minor’

The previous fires also have been “very minor . . . things like smoking papers,” and none has occurred near guest rooms in the hotel’s high-rise towers, hotel spokeswoman JoEllen Zumberge said.

But Anaheim fire officials have launched “an extensive investigation,” Doty said. Arson investigators spent most of the day Tuesday interviewing hotel employees.

“We’ve just got to pull out all the stops. We’ve got to put a stop to this. The potential is just too great,” Doty said. “Anytime you are setting fires in a building that houses hundreds of people, we’re extremely concerned.”

The hotel management was not blaming employees for the fires, and union officials vigorously denied any involvement. “We don’t want to burn the hotel down. We want a contract--a fair contract, that’s all,” said David Schultz, president of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, Local 681.

‘Strictly Out of Line’

“We as a union, we would not condone such actions whatsoever,” Schultz said. “For them to say that it’s related to the job action is totally absurd and uncalled for, and they are strictly out of line in doing that.”

Doty said he is confident that “responsible union officials wouldn’t want anything to do with something like this. It’s just an individual that’s extremely upset.”

Negotiations have been under way since the beginning of the year on a contract that expired Feb. 28 for 1,200 maids, bartenders, waitresses, cooks and other hotel employees.

In addition to a number of working condition and contract language issues, the dispute focuses on the hotel’s final wage offer of no pay increase for food service employees and a raise of up to 30 cents an hour for others. The union is asking for raises ranging from 30 to 60 cents an hour.

Union members rejected the hotel’s last offer by an 11-1 margin March 5, about two weeks after 95% of the membership authorized the negotiating committee to call a strike. Union members subsequently have submitted a counteroffer through a mediator to which hotel management has not yet responded.

Union Demonstrations

“We’re continuing to have job action demonstrations (occasional picket lines),” Schultz said “That’s the tactic that we’re presently using. We don’t know how long. We’re hoping that will work. If that doesn’t work, of course, we’ll have to strike.”

Ric Morris, the hotel’s labor relations manager, said he does not believe the union was involved in the recent fires. “There’s no finer man that I know than Dave Schultz. There is no way he or any member of his union would be involved in something like this,” he asserted.

“There’s been a 30-year relationship with that union,” Morris added. “What you have are two reasonable sides that cannot come to the same conclusion. Ultimately, it will be settled.”

Registration at the hotel, directly across the street from Disneyland, has been running at nearly 100% throughout the contract negotiations, Morris said.