Gore Donor’s Labor Feud May Embarrass Democrats

A major contributor to Al Gore’s campaign is being vilified for strenuously fighting recent union efforts in Santa Monica, setting up a potentially embarrassing confrontation between labor and big money during the Democratic National Convention.

Jonathan Tisch, the New York-based CEO of Loews Hotels, has been lampooned by puppeteers and found guilty in a mock trial by union protesters outside his Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. The hotel is in a bitter fight with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, which is seeking to organize about 300 housekeepers and other service workers.

This week, activists were further incensed when financial statements revealed the hotel was the single largest contributor to an effort to stop a labor-backed living wage ordinance in Santa Monica.

Tisch, an heir to the $21-billion Tisch family fortune, is an old friend of Gore’s and a longtime political donor, contributing more than $150,000 over the last two years to Gore and the Democratic National Committee. Tisch also spearheaded several New York fund-raising efforts that gathered millions of dollars for Gore political action committees.

A spokeswoman for Loews Hotels in New York said: “The political stuff for Jon Tisch is separate from the business dealings.” She declined to elaborate.

Labor leaders, who are trying to rally support for Gore among rank-and-file members, have downplayed the connection. But privately, local activists are furious that Gore--who portrays himself as an ally of organized labor--hasn’t intervened to settle the dispute, which is among the most heated labor conflicts in the Los Angeles area today.

“The Loews’ situation crystallizes the contradictions between the ownership of the Democratic Party and the guiding philosophy and ideals on which it was founded,” said one HERE union activist who did not want to be identified. “It’s all there. It’s a crucible of what happens when profit meets principle.”

The conflict is particularly vexing for members and donor friends of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who were assigned rooms at the Loews during the Aug. 14-17 convention. The committee spokesman, Erik Smith, said that if the labor dispute is not resolved soon, the group will find other arrangements.

“We’re not going to cross picket lines,” Smith said. “We absolutely support the right of workers to organize, and we won’t do anything hurtful to that effort.”

This isn’t the first time a local labor conflict has raised the anxiety level of Democratic convention planners. During the last few months, several tough contracts were hammered out at Staples Center, the convention site, as members of the Democratic National Convention Committee coaxed and prodded in almost daily phone calls.

Now the DNCC is again stepping in to show support. Lydia Camarrillo, who chairs the convention planning effort, will attend a news conference today with union leaders to support the organizing drive in Santa Monica.

“We have been vocally supportive of the workers all along,” said Peter Ragone, spokesman for the DNCC. “It’s not awkward for us because we haven’t done anything to be embarrassed of.”

A spokesperson for the Gore campaign said questions about the Loews hotel were being referred to the DNCC. Also at today’s news conference will be about a dozen local and state legislators, who will call on Loews to remain neutral in the organizing drive and to recognize the union if a majority of workers sign authorization cards.

The hotel, which hired a consultant who specializes in defeating unions, has insisted on going through a lengthier federal election process. “What they want is a gag order, and we’re not going to agree to that,” said Loews spokesman Matt Lonner.

In a speech to an AFL-CIO convention in October, Gore criticized “union busting” consultants and advocated neutrality agreements and a speedier card-check process.

A letter from union leaders went out this week to all convention delegates asking them to join a protest at Loews on the eve of the convention. The rally, set to start a few hours before a party hosted by the Democrats on the Santa Monica Pier, will be led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO.

“We had very much hoped to avoid this situation,” says the letter, signed by Maria Elena Durazo and Tom Walsh, presidents of the two HERE locals involved in a regional campaign to organize nonunion hotels. The letter promised “large-scale demonstrations and other signs of the labor dispute” during and after the Democratic National Convention.

Related to the union organizing drive is a novel labor-backed plan to set a higher minimum wage for workers at hotels, restaurants and retailers in Santa Monica’s high-priced coastal zone.

The proposed “living wage” of $10.69 per hour, now being considered by the Santa Monica City Council, builds on a national trend in which cities are passing such wage floors for their contractors. However, this would be the first time a living wage law would apply to private businesses that have no direct connection to government entities.

Proponents, including labor activists, have argued that Santa Monica has spent millions of dollars to renovate the pier and beachfront attractions, which directly benefit the hotels. They argue that workers at those hotels should be paid wages that lift them out of poverty.

Businesses argued that the higher wage would force them to cut jobs. Hotels countered with their own “living wage” initiative, which would set a higher wage for several hundred city contractors but would exempt hotel, restaurant and other private employees. Hotels in Santa Monica have raised wages substantially since the campaign began two years ago, and some, such as Loews, now pay about $9 per hour.

Half a dozen beachfront hotels spent about $400,000 in the last three months to promote their initiative, which recently qualified for the ballot in Santa Monica. Loews Hotels was the largest donor by far, contributing $125,000 to the effort.

“We see this as a life-and-death fight for the living-wage movement,” said Vivian Rothstein, an organizer for HERE and a longtime Santa Monica activist. “From the very beginning, we’ve been trying to communicate that to the Democratic Party. This is an opportunity for [Gore] to come forward and take a stand.”