L.A. Hotel Reinstates Suspended Employees

The Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel on Monday reinstated dozens of waiters and housekeepers suspended last week when they stopped working and challenged the disciplining of a co-worker.

Some of the workers -- 65 according to the hotel, 76 according to their union -- said they had received calls inviting them to return to work this Thursday, a week after they were suspended.

On May 11, the workers gathered in the employee cafeteria for about two hours during the morning and demanded to speak with hotel management about a waiter, Sergio Reyes, who was fired for reasons that have not been fully explained. Hotel executives said the suspended employees had refused to work and were engaged in an illegal job action.

In a statement Monday, the hotel’s general manager, Grant Coonley, said Hilton believed that the workers were misled by Local 11 of Unite Here, a union that is attempting to organize the hotel workers, about the legality of their action. As a result, the statement said, “it was decided not to terminate their employment.”

“We regret these employees chose to leave their jobs in the first place, and that they then ignored repeated requests to return to work because they were disrupting the hotel operations,” Coonley said. He added, “These are good people.”

Officials of Unite Here alleged in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board that Reyes was terminated and that the employees were suspended because of their support of the union-organizing effort. Union members and suspended workers have picketed the hotel every day since the suspensions.

Patricia Simmons, a waitress at the hotel for 19 years, said she still didn’t understand why she was suspended. Simmons earns $6.75 an hour plus tips, she said, and losing a week’s pay would make it hard for her to pay next month’s rent.