economic justice

What The Hell Is Wrong With The Sheraton Anchorage Hotel?

Dmitri Iglitzin — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:47:37 -0400

Negotiations for a union contract are not customarily conducted through advertisements in a daily newspaper. Which is why readers of last Sunday's Anchorage Daily News were doubtless surprised to see a half-page advertisement by the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel & Spa that wasn't touting the virtues of the Sheraton's facilities or bargain-basement off-season prices. Instead, the ad was an "open letter" to Marvin Jones, President of UNITE HERE Local 878, the union that represents the Sheraton's housekeepers, bell staff, banquet workers, and other hourly employees.

In this letter, the Sheraton, which the union accused more than a year ago of violating federal law by refusing to bargain in good faith for a successor agreement, now promised Local 878 that it would “negotiate a contract” if the union agreed to permit a “decertification election” to occur within 30 days.

It was a different kind of a pitch, made by a different kind of employer. How different?

Well, for over a year now, the Anchorage Sheraton, a/k/a the Remington Hotel Corporation, and its owners, Ashford TRS Nickel LLC, a division of Ashford Hospitality Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, have been engaged in a vicious anti-union campaign against both the hotel’s workers and their union. According to the enforcement arm of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency which oversees private sector labor relations, the Sheraton has, during this time, committed the following unlawful acts, among others:

• Bargained with no intention of reaching an agreement;
• Refused to meet to bargain with the union at reasonable times/and or places;
• Unlawfully changed the terms and conditions of employment for workers, including increasing the number of rooms housekeeping employees are expected to clean each shift from 15 to 17, ceasing to pay employees for meal breaks and making employees pay to eat in the employee cafeteria;
• Unlawfully subcontracted out bargaining unit work (the job of driving the hotel van);
• Fired four workers who, on February 2, 2010, exercised their federally-protected right to express their opinions about the hotel’s labor relations policies by handing out leaflets and handbills in front of the hotel;
• Interrogated workers regarding their support for the union;
• Told workers that they would be fired if they refused to sign a petition withdrawing support for the union; and ultimately
• Unlawfully declared on July 2, 2010, that the Sheraton was now a “non-union” hotel.

The Sheraton has also allegedly stripped workers of their union healthcare plan and numerous other benefits; told workers that they would get many of these benefits restored if they throw out the union; installed surveillance cameras throughout the hotel and spied on the workers in the employee lunchroom; and prohibited union representatives from having access to the hotel.

The enforcement arm of the NLRB, after reaching the conclusions noted above, initiated a prosecution of the Anchorage Sheraton. That case began in August of 2010 in front of a federal administrative law judge and is likely to continue at least until the end of this year.

In response, the Sheraton has only ramped up its aggressive attack on the union, its workers, and anyone and anything that the Sheraton perceives as supporting them. Most recently, the Sheraton has taken the following, truly remarkable steps:

• It subpoenaed Paul Abowd, a former journalist with Labor Notes, a magazine and website that styles itself as “the voice of union activists,” who knows nothing about the Sheraton-Local 878 dispute, demanding that he fly to Anchorage from Detroit, Michigan, to testify about a story he wrote about UNITE HERE (Local 878’s parent entity) for the magazine in October of 2009;

• It subpoenaed representatives of the Anchorage Hilton, its cross-town rival, to testify unwillingly regarding wholly unrelated actions by Local 878 in negotiations with that hotel;

• It sued Local 878 in federal court, claiming that Local 878 has defamed it and has unlawfully attempted to coerce potential customers of the hotel from using the hotel’s services (actions otherwise known as lawfully publicizing a labor dispute and engaging in a lawful boycott); and most recently, and extraordinarily,

• It sued the National Labor Relations Board itself, asserting that the NLRB, by finding merit in Local 878’s many claims against the hotel, has itself violated the law.

Local 878 is not, of course, taking any of this lying down. For every new unlawful action the Sheraton has taken, such as suing it in federal court, Local 878 has filed a new charge with the federal government, asserting that this action, too, violates federal labor law. Local 878’s members continue to appear at the ongoing federal trial and testify regarding the harassment and intimidation to which the hotel has subjected them. The judge in that case continues to listen to the evidence, objectively, and will in all likelihood issue a verdict that will reveal to the world at large the truth of the Sheraton’s unlawful and outrageous misconduct.

So it is no wonder that the Sheraton, having failed to gain any support from journalists, other hotels, or the NLRB, and no doubt anticipating (correctly) that it will not gain any advantage from its two pending federal court lawsuits, is using the power of its purse to pressure Local 878 and its members to give up. It took out its half-page ad because the simple truth is that it is losing the battle against its own workers, and it is getting desperate.

But Local 878 and its members are not going to give up just because the Sheraton takes out an ad in a newspaper calling upon it to agree to an election now, while the Sheraton’s reign of terror over the workers is still in full swing. Local 878 and its members are not going to give up just because the Sheraton has the money to take out a half-page ad, while the union’s resources have been strained by the need to defend itself against the Sheraton’s many unlawful actions.

Local 878 and its members will not, in fact, give up at all. It is the Sheraton, instead, which needs to change its behavior and remedy its unfair labor practices. Once that happens, housekeeping employees will once more be expected to clean only 15 rooms per shift, employees will once more be paid for meal breaks and be able to eat for free in the employee cafeteria, the van driving work will once again be performed by Sheraton employees, and – most importantly – workers will no longer be afraid to express their honest opinions, to each other and to the public, about their workplace and their employer.

Then, and only then, can a new contract be negotiated between Local 878 and the Sheraton. And that’s something that no amount of paid advertising can change.

Dmitri Iglitzin is a partner with the firm of Schwerin Campbell Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt, LLP, in Seattle, Washington, a frequent commentator on matters related to the labor movement, and legal counsel to UNITE HERE Local 878.

Come Shape The Next Phase Of The Progressive Movement At America's Future Now

Zach Carter — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:40:32 -0400

It's an interesting time to be a progressive in the United States. In many ways, the election of President Barack Obama represented a logical, if improbable, end to the era of phony Reaganomics and demonization politics. But the Obama presidency has been a serious test for the progressive movement. The leaders in Washington who were elected with progressive support have repeatedly settled for needlessly weak reforms while ignoring important progressive priorities. There's a critical lesson here: Progressive organizing doesn't start or stop at the voting booth. Grassroots activism from the blogosphere to the union hall is the force that moves both political power and public opinion. We have an opportunity to rekindle the progressive flame that reshaped Washington at the America's Future Now conference June 7 – 9. I hope you will join us.

We will be organizing around every key issue in the progressive pantheon, from the rise of the Tea Party to the future of health care. The contemporary political turmoil will be underscored by multiple in-depth discussions of economic issues—areas in which, I confess, I am deeply personally invested. In addition to working as AlterNet's economics editor, I'm a fellow at Campaign for America's Future, the group sponsoring the conference. On June 8, I will be speaking on a panel about bringing economic populism to Washington. It's a critical topic for my fellow bloggers and journalists, and I strongly encourage anybody reading this article to come and make their voice heard.

When the U.S. House of Representatives first shot down the bank bailout bill in the fall of 2008, I was working in a financial newsroom. Dozens of reporters and editors were crowded around a television, watching CNBC's coverage of the House floor, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average embedded in the corner of the screen, glowing green. When it became clear that the bill did not have the votes to pass, the room broke into a panic—people scrambling for the phones, clattering furiously at their keyboards, shouting across the room and pounding on desks, all while the green numbers on the television grew more ominous by the second. Much of the hubub was about the news: "Congress Rejects Bailout, Dow Crashes! That's your headline!" But the furor was intensified by an economic anxiety so intense that it was manifesting itself physically—raised voices, grinding teeth and sinking stomachs.

My coworkers at the time were well-intentioned, but as you might imagine, financial newsrooms are not hotbeds of progressive thought. My colleagues were facing an intellectual crisis. How could Wall Street possibly have screwed up this badly? How could Congress not come to the rescue? Am I going to have a job tomorrow?

To a great extent, this newsroom chaos reflected the nation at large. All but the most die-hard right-wingers found themselves drawn to progressive ideas. Ronald Reagan's worldview, which had dominated economic policy for nearly thirty years, was collapsing with the Dow. If anything, that worldview has been discredited even further by the events that have transpired since the Great Financial Crash of 2008. Unemployment has surged to double-digits, while corporate malfeasance has created the greatest environmental calamity in history in the Gulf of Mexico. The banking oligarchs have restored their bloated bonuses, even as the foreclosure crisis deepens unabated.

Nearly two years after The Crash, Obama and Congress are all-but-certain to enact Wall Street reform legislation. Like much of the Obama presidency, it is a bittersweet victory. Regulators will get real and necessary tools to fight financial excess, but without major and unexpected improvements, the bill will not meaningfully rein in the capital markets casino that wrecked the global economy. The bill's shortcomings ensure that our recovery will be weaker than necessary, and leave us vulnerable to another Great Crash in the near future.

America's Future Now will provide several opportunities for progressives to plan the next steps for our economy. What further reforms must Congress address next year? How can we press Congress to stand up for its non-corporate constituents? What are the most effective avenues for progressive activism? Some of today's most important economic thinkers will be presenting, from economists like Simon Johnson and Robert Johnson, to commentators like Robert Kuttner and Arianna Huffington, to labor leaders like Richard Trumka and Andy Stern, to activists like George Goehl and Heather McGhee, to Congressional stalwarts like Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Alan Grayson.

The progressive movement is capable of extraordinary things. With Corporate America allied against us, we forced Republicans out of Congressional control in 2006 and pushed them out of the White House in 2008. Today's fight is more complex, as the executive class strengthens its ties to the Democratic Party, and the Democratic leadership softens its tone on corporate abuses. That's what makes an event like America's Future Now so important. Today, the progressive movement faces a set of decisions more critical than any in its recent history. Please join us and help shape the future of that movement.

Coming Clean on the Stimulus

Alan Jenkins — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:34:33 -0400

A report issued by the White House and the Education Department on Monday showed that the federal economic stimulus package (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) has so far created or saved 250,000 education jobs. The report is the first hard evidence of the Recovery Act’s contribution to the nation’s economic health, and previews more extensive data that will be released October 30.

The report is good news for at least two reasons. First, it documents how public investment is helping to pull the nation back from the brink of a devastating economic depression. And, second, it includes crucial information that should inform the ongoing investment of stimulus funds to achieve a full recovery—especially when it comes to job creation. In analyzing the full October data, however, it is important to ask not only how many jobs were created and what infrastructure was built, but also whether we are investing in a lasting economic recovery that will include our entire nation.

Because stimulus funds are flowing largely through traditional state and local channels, particular attention is needed to ensure that they reach the communities and populations that need them most, that distribution is fair and transparent, and that progress is measured in terms of greater and more equal opportunity for all Americans.

If the last year has shown us anything, it is that we are all in it together when it comes to the economy. When all communities have access to jobs, education and health care, and can contribute to our economy through spending, taxes, and entrepreneurship, we all do better. And when millions of our people are shut out from economic participation, we are all held back. It’s in our national interest to foster the economic participation of all Americans, and to invest in the infrastructure of opportunity, particularly where it’s been ignored in the past.

Monday’s education report includes some encouraging details on this front. It reports, for example, that schools in Lafayette, Indiana are using Recovery Act funds to extend the school day and year in two schools with the highest rates of poverty. West Hartford, CT is using funds to provide after-school math and reading help for the town’s neediest elementary schools, and Hillsborough County, FL is using its incentive pay program to attract and keep highly-qualified teachers working with the most at-risk students. Along with saving hundreds of thousands of jobs, these investments go a long way toward the Recovery Act’s education goal, which is “to stimulate the economy in the short term, while investing in education advancements to ensure the long-term economic health and success of our nation.”

At the same time, however, there continues to be a troubling lack of information about the overall accountability and equity of stimulus investments on the ground. There is no indication in Monday’s report, for example, as to whether innovative efforts to expand opportunity are the norm, or simply sporadic points of light. The report is silent, moreover, on whether African American and Latino students—who are disproportionately concentrated in our nation’s most under-resourced schools—are benefiting from stimulus investments to the extent that their pressing need and overrepresentation in our public schools would dictate. The Administration has done well in identifying such interventions as priorities, but we simply don’t know how or whether they are playing out on the ground.

The same lack of information has plagued the larger recovery effort so far. While the government’s stimulus tracking website—www.recovery.gov—offers some useful information, it is currently inadequate for determining, for example, whether jobs reach women and men on an equal opportunity basis, or whether transportation and health care infrastructure projects are serving communities that reflect comparative need and the growing diversity of our nation.

Lack of transparency has been an even bigger problem at the state and local level. Residents and community groups around the country have been frequently frustrated in their attempts to identify and participate in needed initiatives. And, with a few exceptions like New York City’s NYC Stat website, state and local stimulus tracking sites are strikingly uninformative.

Eight months into the economic recovery, the lack of transparency or a documented focus on greater and more equal opportunity is disappointing. But that can and should change, starting now. For the October 30th data release and going forward, the Administration should document online and in its reporting how each stimulus investment is or is not expanding opportunity to disconnected communities. It should disaggregate employment, education, entrepreneurial, and infrastructure data by race, gender, and disability, as well as by other demographic characteristics like rural/urban/suburban, along which opportunity has frequently been segregated.

In considering future disbursements of Recovery Act funds—some $228 billion in contracts, grants, and loans remains to be distributed—federal agencies should require fund applicants to share with the public detailed information about stimulus project choices, and to invite and consider public input in determining investments. As I have urged before in this column, governments at each level should employ Opportunity Impact Statements to ensure that greater and more equal opportunity for all residents are prioritized.

The stimulus and other timely efforts are helping to stave off an economic meltdown of catastrophic proportions. But the hard work of lasting recovery lies ahead. Moving from fiscal survival to broadly shared economic security and prosperity requires a focus on opportunity for all.

Gene Webster

Gene Webster — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:14:48 -0400

Master's degree in Journalism and Communications --- Newspaper editor and all-news radio producer ---
Executive Director of non-profit fundraising organization --- development and communications consultant

R.I.P., Circuit City

Dmitri Iglitzin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:11:54 -0500

On November 10, 2008, Circuit City, the nation’s second-biggest electronics retailer, filed for bankruptcy. It’s going to have a lot of company in bankruptcy court. More than a dozen U.S. retailers filed for bankruptcy in 2008, including Linens ‘n Things and Sharper Image. Already in 2009, KBtoys.com has followed suit, and more such filings are expected following what may have been the worst holiday-shopping season in 40 years.

What makes Circuit City’s collapse worthy of some special note, however, however, is the fact that this company, en route to its financial meltdown, tried to balance its books at the expense of its workers, a tactic that other companies may yet be tempted to follow, despite Circuit City's evident lack of success.

In March of 2007, Circuit City decided to fire approximately 3400 senior store employees who were making, on average, about $15 per hour. Some of these workers were replaced by new hires, while others were actually invited to return to work at $10.22 per hour. These layoffs represented approximately 8% of the in-store work force, or on average, 5 staff members per store.

The job cuts were "one of the most brazen examples of corporate America run amuck,'' said Greg Tarpinian, executive director of Change to Win, a coalition of seven international unions representing about 6 million workers. "It's workers as disposable commodities, put in and put out based on whatever happens to the stock price.''

Not surprisingly, this heartless move not only damaged Circuit City’s reputation, it failed to provide any lasting benefit to the company’s bottom line. By replacing its most experienced salespeople, Circuit City lost effectiveness in both sales and customer services. As a result, Circuit City's customer satisfaction rating has steadily declined, dropping 5.5% overall since 2003, and it now trails competitors Best Buy, Costco, and Wal-Mart, the first two by a considerable margin.

Nor did Circuit City’s stock price benefit. It dropped from over $19 per share on the date of the layoffs to $4 per share a year later, and it had dropped all the way to a quarter before the company filed for bankruptcy.

None of this stopped Circuit City from generously rewarding its management team for their lack of success, of course. In 2006, according to Bloomberg.com, then-Chief Executive Officer Philip J. Schoonover (he was forced out last September) raked in $8,520,000 in total compensation. In addition, at around the same time as the layoffs, the company's board approved "retention awards" of $1 million for each of its 3 executive vice presidents and $600,000 for each of its 10 senior vice presidents. Circuit City said the awards were intended "to ensure the stability of the company's leadership team by providing an incentive" for the officers to stay.

In court documents, Chief Financial Officer Bruce H. Besanko said that three factors led to Circuit City’s bankruptcy filing: erosion of vendor confidence, decreased liquidity and the global economic crisis. Maybe. But he should have added one more factor: a fundamental lack of respect by Circuit City’s management for the company’s own workers, who were the one company resource that might have been able to restore its tarnished reputation and save it from failure.

Circuit City is still selling gift cards, and it is promising to do its best to honor those cards if customers actually try to use them. Had Circuit City been willing to match its own workers' level of commitment, instead of kicking those workers to the curb as soon as times got hard, perhaps its promises would not ring quite so hollow.

R.I.P., Circuit City

Dmitri Iglitzin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:10:51 -0500

Alan Maki

Alan Maki — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:27:25 -0500

I think the Israeli pogroms against the Palestinian people paid for with our tax-dollars is an outrage. I have no confidence in Barack Obama to do the right thing about anything after he sat in shameful silence while the Israeli killing machine rampaged through Gaza.

In my spare time I like to play Scrabble, fish, camp, cross-country ski, garden, read, write.

I tossed out the television years ago and enjoy listening to CBC radio.

Over two-million casino workers are employed in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws under terms of "Compacts" creating the Indian Gaming Industry.

Let's start talking about the politics and economics of livelihood... working class politics.

Capitalism is on the skids to oblivion, and Barack Obama and the Democrats are taking us down the treacherous road to perdition. The time has come to consider the socialist alternative.

I enjoy blogging... hope you check out my blog.