Judge Sides With Santa Monica Hotel in Labor Dispute

A federal administrative law judge has recommended that the National Labor Relations Board dismiss its charges that a Santa Monica hotel rewarded two cashiers with large pay raises in 1996 and 1997 for their anti-union activities.

Judge Timothy D. Nelson sided with management of the Miramar Sheraton, Santa Monica’s only unionized hotel, in one of several ongoing labor disputes surrounding a 1997 union decertification election.

The hotel has been a hotbed of labor controversy since employees voted by a slim margin to cease to be represented by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 814.

Throughout the dispute, union officials and their supporters have complained that management has intimidated pro-union employees and given benefits to anti-union employees.

A labor board hearing examiner ruled in the union’s favor last July and overturned the election, which the union lost by a vote of 120 to 108. Appeals on that decision are still pending.

Nelson’s decision in the separate pay-raise case said the union’s complaints about the cashiers’ raises were merely a “political” move and that the charges should have been filed months earlier.

Miramar management called the judge’s decision a victory, and sent out fliers to employees Monday, stating that the union “cannot be believed.”

Local labor relations board attorneys said they are seeking permission to appeal Nelson’s decision. They said they stand by an investigation that not only deemed the pay raises to be an unfair labor practice, but called on the Miramar to pay similar, retroactive raises to more than 200 employees represented by the union--a move that could cost the hotel $1.8 million.

Byron Kohn, regional attorney for the labor relations board, said management’s conduct in the case was highly unusual.

“Usually, employers are withholding pay increases for union activities,” he said. “In more than 30 years with the agency, I have not seen a case like it.”

Miramar Sheraton Hotel general manager William Worcester maintains that the cashiers received raises because they earned them.

“We have a lot of employees who are paid above union scale,” he said. “It’s solely based on their performance. I think this was a [union] tactic to make headlines. We did nothing wrong.”

Kurt Petersen, a lead organizer for Local 814, said, “We think the judge’s decision is wrong. . . . We’re confident it will be overturned when it is appealed.”