Mass Arrests as LA Unionists Rally in Support of San Francisco Hotel Workers/Employers to Extend Lockout

Posted to the IUF website 06-Oct-2004

Share this article.



Forty-four Los Angeles hotel union members and supporters were arrested at a demonstration in support of striking and locked out UNITE HERE members in San Francisco on October 5. The rally brought some 1,000 union members, labour rights supporters and community and civil rights activists to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the city center, where police moved in for mass arrests after the demonstrators failed to disperse when police gave the order.

The same day, the city employers group representing the 14 largest hotels voted to continue the lock out of 4,000 members of San Francisco UNITE HERE Local 2 beyond the October 13 deadline set by the union for an end to the strike which prompted the wider lockout. San Francisco hotel employers have rejected negotiations for a two-year expiry date for a new collective agreement which would give a common expiration date with hotels in 10 major US cities and thus increase national bargaining power with the chains that now dominate the sector.

UNITE HERE is focusing nationally on four key hotel chains which are major employers and are leading the opposition to the union's bargaining demands. The four chains are: InterContinental, Starwood, Marriott, and Hyatt.