The FTAA demonstration April 21 is doing more than fighting corporate exploitation on an international scale - activities will also target an example of union busting and corporate disregard for workers in St. Paul.
After demonstrators leave the Capitol, they will march to the Holiday Inn Rivercentre, whose new owners refused to rehire the hotel's 30 union workers and instead reopened with a non-union staff, according to Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 17.
The Holiday Inn, at 7th and Kellogg streets, was a Days Inn. But with the pending debut of the Xcel Energy Center across the street, the hotel closed in late 1999 for a $10 million renovation.
Workers lose their jobs
The Days Inn employees were in the middle of their first contract when the hotel shut down, said Kyle Makarios, an organizer for Local 17. Contract language guaranteed recall rights. In addition, the owners verbally promised workers they would be called back to their jobs with full seniority and benefits, he said.
Instead, as far as can be determined, the Days Inn owners took on a new majority partner, renamed the company 175 Fort LLC, changed franchise affiliation, and hired a completely new staff - going so far as even refusing to hire those staff members who reapplied for their jobs.
The new owners claim they are not bound by the contract and the recall provisions, Makarios said. 'They're arguing they don't have any obligations to the workers or to us.'
Local 17 doesn't intend to let that attitude go unchallenged. The new owners' actions, Makarios said, are undermining local work standards, inconsistent with good corporate citizenship, and patently unfair to the Days Inn workers.
Local 17, he said, intends to seek justice for the displaced workers. 'The workers never even had the opportunity to negotiate a severance package,' Makarios notes.
In addition, Local 17 intends to pressure the hotel owners to accept card-check recognition of the union and to remain neutral during an organizing drive. 'We'll probably raise hell until then,' Makarios said.
This article was written for the April 18 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
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The FTAA demonstration April 21 is doing more than fighting corporate exploitation on an international scale – activities will also target an example of union busting and corporate disregard for workers in St. Paul.
After demonstrators leave the Capitol, they will march to the Holiday Inn Rivercentre, whose new owners refused to rehire the hotel’s 30 union workers and instead reopened with a non-union staff, according to Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 17.
The Holiday Inn, at 7th and Kellogg streets, was a Days Inn. But with the pending debut of the Xcel Energy Center across the street, the hotel closed in late 1999 for a $10 million renovation.
Workers lose their jobs
The Days Inn employees were in the middle of their first contract when the hotel shut down, said Kyle Makarios, an organizer for Local 17. Contract language guaranteed recall rights. In addition, the owners verbally promised workers they would be called back to their jobs with full seniority and benefits, he said.
Instead, as far as can be determined, the Days Inn owners took on a new majority partner, renamed the company 175 Fort LLC, changed franchise affiliation, and hired a completely new staff – going so far as even refusing to hire those staff members who reapplied for their jobs.
The new owners claim they are not bound by the contract and the recall provisions, Makarios said. ‘They’re arguing they don’t have any obligations to the workers or to us.’
Local 17 doesn’t intend to let that attitude go unchallenged. The new owners’ actions, Makarios said, are undermining local work standards, inconsistent with good corporate citizenship, and patently unfair to the Days Inn workers.
Local 17, he said, intends to seek justice for the displaced workers. ‘The workers never even had the opportunity to negotiate a severance package,’ Makarios notes.
In addition, Local 17 intends to pressure the hotel owners to accept card-check recognition of the union and to remain neutral during an organizing drive. ‘We’ll probably raise hell until then,’ Makarios said.
This article was written for the April 18 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
Related article
Protest April 21 against expansion of NAFTA
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