Clark Saluted at Disneyland Hotel Dinner : ‘Friend of Labor’ Runs Afoul of Pickets

A longtime “friend of labor” drew some flak--and a picket line--Thursday night when Supervisor Ralph B. Clark held his retirement dinner at the Disneyland Hotel, where 1,200 employees have worked without a contract since Feb. 28.

Some of Clark’s old friends, including Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy and county labor council secretary Mary Yunt, decided to skip the $50-a-plate testimonial dinner, saying they admired Clark but could not in good conscience cross the picket lines outside the hotel.

“We felt there was a fairly serious labor dispute taking place at the hotel. We don’t want to interject ourselves into the middle of that dispute,” said McCarthy’s assistant chief of staff, Kurt Haunfelnder. “Our choices were either to walk through the picket line or to bring Leo in through the back door. And neither of those was acceptable.”

Pickets Circle Entrance

As Clark’s dinner guests arrived, about 40 pickets, carrying placards that said “Boycott the Disneyland Hotel,” circled the hotel’s Cerritos Avenue entrance.

In an interview Thursday night, Clark said: “This was put together for me. I am certainly sorry there are pickets out there because I support the workers and I know they have problems.”

Dan C. Wooldridge, Clark’s executive assistant, earlier had accused labor union leaders of “raining on his (Clark’s) parade.”

He said Clark and his staff had just learned that there was a labor dispute at the hotel, and Wooldridge angrily blamed union officials who “failed to let us know there was a boycott going on.”

Lengthy Dispute

The hotel has been involved in a bitter dispute with 1,200 maids, busboys, bartenders and waiters since March 1. On March 7, leaders of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union, Local 681, asked the public to boycott the hotel until the problem was resolved.

In May, Vice President George Bush canceled plans to stay at the hotel because of the dispute, although he did cross picket lines to speak at a political fund-raiser for Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

Steve Beyer, an administrative assistant for Local 681, said the union learned about the location of Clark’s dinner two weeks ago and asked Clark’s staff then to move it. Union leaders even found him an alternative site at the nearby Inn at the Park and offered to print maps and direct the 600 guests to the new location, Beyer said.

But Clark’s staff said there was insufficient time and rejected the change. Wooldridge said Clark and his staff learned of the alternate site only Wednesday. “It was at a point where we couldn’t cancel. It was too late,” he said.

‘A Real Asset’

Yunt said that during Clark’s 16 years as supervisor “we have always considered him a friend of labor. . . . In contract negotiations, he had taken the lead in asking other supervisors to listen to employee problems. He had been a real asset to us.”

Yunt said she blamed Clark’s staff more than Clark but added: “We didn’t want him to go out like this. He worked so hard. We’d love to have him leave office with the same kind of reputation he had. It’s very unfortunate.”

Clark, 69, retires from the board Jan. 5.

Times county bureau chief John Needham contributed to this report.