Hilton LAX Accused of Hindering Union Efforts

Hotel workers at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport -- the second-largest hotel in the county -- were blocked from the premises on days off, given reduced hours, put under surveillance and punished for participating in a union organizing drive, according to a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

The complaint alleges 40 violations of the National Labor Relations Act. It was filed Friday by Unite Here Local 11, a union that is aggressively trying to organize hotel workers nationwide and along the LAX corridor where 13 hotels don’t have union contracts.

“This is just another layer of what’s been going on for months,” union spokeswoman Paulina Gonzalez said. “The hotel is cracking down hard every time the workers try to exercise their rights.”

The union alleges that hotel management interfered repeatedly with organizing activities during the last six months by refusing to hand out paychecks to workers wearing union T-shirts, slashing hours, blocking transfer requests and suspending employees.

It is similar to “unfair labor practice” charges filed against the Glendale Hilton.

Grant Coonley, general manager at the LAX Hilton, said he had “definitely not” interfered with union activities, and suggested that the complaints were part of the union’s tactics.

“They just try to flood the national labor board with charges,” Coonley said, adding that union supporters were harassing other workers on the job.

Unite Here negotiated contracts in several major cities to expire this year, giving it a powerful strike threat.

Last week, workers at San Francisco hotels, many without a contract since 2004, authorized union negotiators to call a strike. Similar action has been taken in Honolulu, Chicago, Toronto, and Monterey, Calif.

In Los Angeles, where the union represents more than 5,000 workers at 25 hotels, the contract expires in November.