Posted on 09/30/2009 7:18:10 PM PDT by Steelfish
Hotel Bel-Air Closes For Renovations, Laying Off 250 Union Workers
The hotel has refused to commit to rehiring the employees, many of whom are immigrants, when work is done in 2011. Many are worried about losing affordable health coverage.
By Hugo Martín and Patrick McDonnell October 1, 2009
The Hotel Bel-Air closed quietly Wednesday, shutting for two years of renovations without agreeing to a severance package with its unionized employees.
The resort -- for more than 60 years a retreat for presidents, movie stars and others -- has refused to commit to rehire 250 union employees after its multimillion-dollar face-lift is complete in 2011. Leaders of Unite Here Local 11 have accused the hotel's managers of using the renovation project to rid itself of the union.
Management has offered workers a severance package but union leaders have rejected the deal, saying it provides inadequate health insurance coverage and no guarantees that the employees will have jobs when the hotel reopens. A federal mediator is expected to oversee further meetings, starting today.
"We think it's a tactic to close the union and clear out the workers," said Leigh Shelton, a spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 11.
Shelton said the severance package offered to give workers two weeks' worth of salary for every year on the job plus a contribution to a health plan that could last about six months. But she said that the deductibles on the plan were so high that workers could not afford them. And she said the severance package did not include the most important benefit to workers: a guarantee that the hotel employees would have jobs when the face-lift was completed.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Re-open AFTER the 2010 elections.
That’s some pretty sweet severance. Just five years working there gives two and a half months of full pay. That would leave someone quite a bit of time to dedicate full-time to finding another job, or even get some training to get a better job.
SEIU union? Business probably sucks too due to O Depression.
That’s one way to do it!
Good for the hotel.
There are no guarantees that anyone will have a certain job two years from now. There is no requirement to provide income and benefits while the hotel is closed. There is no spoon. Here’s a taco for your inconvenience.
every time a union worker loses his job, an angle smiles.
You’d think all those wealthy celebrities who frequent the Bel Air would get together and pay these people’s salary and benefits until they can find other work.
TexasFreeper2009 wrote:
SWEET!
every time a union worker loses his job, an angle smiles
I smile tooo! BTW you mislpelled ANGEL but i’m sure an Angel forgives you.
:-)
A right angle, maybe. A left one, probably not.
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