On Their Feet for a Better Living
Roughly 20 employees gathered in the parking lot of a restaurant on Central Avenue in Glendale, where they were warned about the possibility of police intervention, then began marching toward the Hilton hotel and the office of their boss.
Some were afraid, some were emboldened, some were a little of each.
Juan Mendoza, a waiter who makes minimum wage plus tips after 13 years and pays about $200 a month for medical benefits, walked ahead of Leticia Ceballos. After 11 years in various housekeeping jobs, she makes $8 an hour. The nonunion clock-punchers believe they'd have a better deal with union representation, so despite fear of retribution, they were ready to speak up.
The employees entered the high-rise Hilton through the back door and snaked through a service area to the executive offices of the four-star hotel. With them in solidarity was Ana Cortes, a Beverly Hilton housekeeper who said she makes $3 an hour more than her Glendale colleagues for comparable work and gets free medical benefits from her unionized hotel.
Before long, several security guards showed up, along with a gentleman in a gray suit.
"Who are you?" asked Kurt Petersen, a union organizer for Team United.
Gary Lemma, the hotel's assistant general manager, threw the question back at Petersen. Petersen told him the employees had decided to call for a union election, and they wanted a commitment from the company that it would remain neutral instead of trying to scare workers away from voting for representation. The workers were concerned about what they said were previous attempts by management to discourage unionization.
"We want the same benefits they have at the Beverly Hilton," said Ceballos, one of several employees who spoke up about pay and benefits or complained that supervisors have discouraged union organizing. Many of the employees prefaced their remarks by telling Lemma that they liked him, and this was nothing personal.
"Are you going to remain neutral?" Petersen asked.
Lemma said the hotel respects the right of employees -- whom he referred to as team members and as family -- to join a union. He implied that management would be neutral but stopped short of guarantees, saying he hoped employees would make "the right choice" in deciding whether to sign a union petition.
