Judge Relaxes Ruling Denying Union Access to Workers
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge reversed course Tuesday in a case arising from a bitter labor dispute at the New Otani Hotel, putting off parts of an injunction that had restricted union organizers’ access to workers.
Superior Court Judge Pro Tem William A. Allen stayed portions of his February injunction, which had invoked wording from an anti-stalking statute to bar Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union from approaching nine workers within 5 yards of their homes.
On Tuesday, in a victory for Local 11, the judge ruled that organizers can visit the employees’ homes before 7 p.m., but must leave immediately if asked to do so. The union remains enjoined from threatening violence.
New Otani management has accused the union of engaging in a “campaign of intimidation”--a charge denied by Maria Elena Durazo, president of Local 11, which has been engaged in an almost three-year organizing drive among the New Otani’s more them 300 employees.
The New Otani “fully expects” the injunction will be completely restored upon appeal, the hotel said in a statement.
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