Check out this video from Unite HERE Local 878! Workers at the Sheraton Alaska who experienced harassment, intimidation, cut hours, unspecified job titles, loss of seniority and much more with new management in place.
Boycott Sheraton
For over three years, Sheraton management has been breaking federal labor laws by enforcing sub-standard working conditions. Texas owned & managed Sheraton Anchorage was found guilty, by an Administrative Law Judge with the National Labor Relations Board of disciplining & threatening its employees, Alaskan workers, members of our community. The Boycott of the Sheraton Anchorage continues with strong showings of support from the residents on Anchorage & Alaska. This picket was held on April 15th, 2012
Enough is Enough!
On October 5th, dozens of community activists and leaders attended Local 878’s briefing on the status of the Sheraton Anchorage campaign. Politicians, religious leaders, labor union representatives and heads of local community groups joined workers to discuss the campaign to defend their livelihoods against the Sheraton’s unlawful and shameless actions. After the briefing, workers and community members formed a picket line outside the Sheraton hotel.
After a struggle that has lasted over two years, Sheraton workers are closer than ever to securing justice at their workplace. In August, an Administrative Law Judge issued his ruling that the Sheraton hotel violated federal labor laws. However, until workers secure a fair union contract, they continue to ask the public to boycott their hotel.
There are two large hotels in Anchorage that are currently under boycott for mistreatment of workers – the Anchorage Sheraton and the Anchorage Hilton. On Tuesday, August 9, The Mudflats reported that three community leaders were expelled from the office of the General Manager of the Sheraton when they came to express the concerns of the community regarding the hotel’s labor practices.
And Friday, The Hilton was the site for the latest event in a long history of protesting and picketing. That day, Senator Mark Begich was slated to address the Building Owners and Management Association (BOMA), and would have to cross the picket line to do it. The Senator arrived and entered the Hilton through a side door. There were repeated chants of, “Shame on Begich!” One woman shouted, “Only a coward sneaks in the side door!”…
In 2006, Texas-based Ashford Hospitality acquired the 370-room downtown Sheraton Anchorage Hotel. Ashford has paired up with its hotel management company, Remington Hospitality Services, to carry out a brutal anti-union campaign that is singularly out of step with the history of cooperation between the hotel owners and workers who have built our successful tourism industry in Alaska.
Ashford/Remington’s assault on Sheraton workers and their union began in late 2009 after the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Sheraton alleging bad faith bargaining. This first charge marked the beginning of the workers’ efforts to defend themselves against Ashford/Remington’s attempts to break their union and to compromise their job standards. Workers rallied to support each other against intimidation and retaliation and to speak out in opposition to management’s attacks against their union.
As an organized committee of dedicated employee activists grew inside the hotel, the workers’ actions became more visible. They began to conduct protests inside and outside the workplace; they picketed, they rallied, and an overwhelming majority of them signed a petition to declare that they were going to start asking the public to boycott their hotel.
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit over a boycott of a downtown Anchorage hotel after finding union activities that cost the hotel operator hundreds of thousands of dollars are protected by federal law.
The operator of the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel & Spa alleged in its lawsuit that the union’s call to boycott was damaging to the hotel and could be perceived as a threat to the safety to potential clients and guests.
But U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland ruled last week that the union’s actions are protected either by the U.S. Constitution or the National Labor Relations Act.
“The remarks to potential guests about having to cross picket lines cannot possibly be perceived as threats,” the judge said.
