Hotel Needs to Deal Straight With Workers

Most Japanese corporate executives have remarkably harmonious relations with labor unions and their members in Japan but sometimes become anti-union in the United States.

The reason probably lies in the differing labor-management environments in the two countries. Corporate officials accept and even welcome cooperation with their workers and unions in Japan, realizing that when workers are treated with respect they are more productive and efficient than when they are regarded as adversaries.

But when Japanese bosses arrive here, many quickly adjust to the stance of a majority of U.S. corporations, which is to try to crush any union activity. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

However, the New Otani Hotel & Garden is different. Its Japanese owners are anti-union in Japan. The giant hotel chain fights unions there and in its other facilities around the world, including Los Angeles.

New Otani management seems unimpressed by the sight of many of its employees chanting “Boycott! Boycott!” as groups of Japanese tourists are hurried into the 20-story hotel in L.A.’s Little Tokyo. None of this labor-management harmony stuff for them.

One of the favorite tactics used by many U.S. companies to remain “union free” is to fire union supporters, which tends to scare off other would-be union backers. It is illegal, here and in Japan, but it can take years for a final ruling against an offending corporation--long enough to stamp out most union activities.

The New Otani here used that ploy on three of its employees fired after 16 years of service, according to a complaint last May by regional officials of the National Labor Relations Board. The hotel undoubtedly figured it would send a clear message to the other employees: “Support the union at your peril.”

The New Otani challenged Local 11 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union to let the government conduct an election to decide if its workers really want to be represented by the union. It is a seemingly reasonable request--but a deceptive one.

Maria Elena Durazo, the animated and highly active local union leader, is acutely aware of the impact of the firings of the three union supporters and other intimidating company tactics on the rest of the workers. She pleads for the company to use another valid method of determining the wishes of the workers: Let them sign cards if they want union representation, with a pledge of noninterference from the management. In other words, no secret surveillance by the company of its workers and no discharges of union supporters.

The union lost an election at the New Otani in 1982 and realizes its chances of winning this time would be small if the hotel continues its aggressive and patently illegal anti-union activities.

The card signing/noninterference formula worked in October for the union at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel. At first, Marriott management agreed to the system, but the company later argued that the agreement was nonbinding and refused to negotiate a contract. In classic delaying tactics, Marriott lawyers managed to dispute the issue for seven years before a landmark agreement was reached.

There is yet another twist to the New Otani tangle. The controlling interest of the New Otani is held by the giant construction, engineering and development firm Kajima Corp. The company is embroiled in scandals over bribery and bid-rigging that have shaken the construction industry in Japan. Two Kajima officers have been convicted.

Culinary union workers in Las Vegas won a major victory last month when the MGM Grand Resort, the world’s largest hotel, recognized the union after a majority of the hotel’s 3,000 workers signed union authorization cards. That victory topped a four-year struggle.

Durazo is asking the New Otani in Los Angeles to sign a similar “no intimidation” agreement and rehire the workers it fired. The battle has been underway for more than three years and has won support from unions around the world, including the Rengo labor federation in Japan, which represents more than 8 million members in that country.

It’s time for the New Otani to stop fighting low-wage workers and build the kind of harmonious labor relations that other firms have managed so successfully in Japan--and even to some degree in the United States.