NEA-Alaska cancels Hilton contract
| Sep 24, 2009The Alaska chapter of the National Education Association has been monitoring the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the Anchorage Hilton Hotel and its bellmen, housekeepers, food servers, and other employee groups for some months. These hardworking Alaskans, members of Unite HERE Local 878, have been attempting to bargain a new contract for more than a year, and hotel management shows no signs that it is willing to settle.
This is part of a national pattern of union-breaking tactics and unfair treatment of employees by the Columbia Sussex Corporation. As a result, the NEA-Alaska Board of Directors met last weekend and voted to cancel its multi-year contract with the Hilton. The board severed all business ties with the hotel, despite the financial cost to our 13,000 members.
NEA-Alaska met with the Hilton management in May and August, both times offering our services as mediators to help the two sides achieve a reasonable settlement. Alaska staff returned from attending the last face-to-face negotiating session stating it has become clear that these Outside hotel managers have no interest in settling the dispute with their Alaskan employees.
Over the course of more than 20 years, NEA-Alaska has held many events at the Hilton. The warm greetings we receive when entering the hotel make us feel welcome and appreciated. The greetings come from hotel employees who take pride in their work and are professionals in taking care of guests.
We value our longtime association with the Hilton, but we cannot do business with a company that refuses to treat working Alaskans fairly and with respect. As educators, we teach our students the values of good citizenship and fair play. As union members, we stand together with all Alaskans in the struggle for what is right. In this instance that means fair wages, reasonable workloads, and affordable healthcare for families.
Our canceled contract consisted of six conferences, all scheduled outside the tourist season. Two of the events, annual Delegate Assemblies, would have brought more than 400 educators from across Alaska to the Anchorage Hilton in January 2010 and 2011. Alaskans know how valuable these large conventions would be to any hotel during our darkest, coldest season.
In addition to pulling our conference and convention business from the Hilton, NEA-Alaska has asked its members not to eat, sleep, or meet at the Hilton until the hotel settles a fair contract. The Anchorage Hilton is one of 71 hotels that Columbia Sussex owns around the country. The Anchorage Marriott is also owned by this company. We have posted a list of these properties on our website, and urge all Alaskans to check the list before they make travel reservations and honor the boycott.
Alaskans have always stood together to overcome adversity. Let us stand together now and send this resounding message to Columbia Sussex and all other Outside corporations: Alaskan workers deserve better, and we won't stand for anything less.
Barb Angaiak is President of NEA-Alaska, the largest union in Alaska. NEA-Alaska represents over 13,000 teachers and education support professionals from Ketchikan to Kaktovik. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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What: Press Conference followed by a Picket of the Mayoral “Unity” Dinner
When: Press Conference – Friday, September 25th at 12:15pm
Picket – Friday, September 25th from 6pm to 7:00pm
Where: Hilton Anchorage (3rd & E St)
Who: Speakers will include: members from the Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans and
other groups who have pulled events from the hotel.
The President of NEA-Alaska, Barb Angaiak, who will announce that the largest union in Alaska has voted to cancel their event’s contract with the Hilton as a result of their labor practices. NEA represents over 13,000 Alaskan working families.
Others in attendance: other Hilton workers; members of UNITE HERE Local 878 from across the city; and members from the local Anchorage community and labor unions
Why: The new Anchorage Mayor, Dan Sullivan, plans to hold his “Unity” dinner at the only boycotted hotel in Alaska. After being alerted to the labor unrest at the Hilton Anchorage, the mayor knowingly plans to cross the workers’ informational picketline this Friday. In May, the Hilton workers overwhelmingly voted to place their hotel under boycott because their employer continues to degrade their quality of life, which also threatens to do the same to industry standards in Anchorage.
During this week of supposed empowerment, Mayor Sullivan is knowingly stripping the diverse workforce of some of their bargaining power. While electeds in other cities across the country continue to take stands against hotel employers who provide poverty-wage jobs, the Anchorage mayor hides behind the guise that this is a private matter. In Baltimore, their City Council passed a resolution in support of the boycott at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel which is also owned and operated by the same employer as the Hilton Anchorage – Columbia Sussex.
The hospitality industry is known for employing a diverse workforce. The Hilton Anchorage is no exception. Workers hail from the Philippines, Mexico, Korea, Central America, Africa, South America, and beyond. While continuing to negotiate with their employer, Columbia Sussex, for over one year, this eclectic group of workers has joined together and are speaking the only language their company seems to understand – money. While workers know that asking customers not to eat, drink, sleep, or meet at their hotel hurts their pocket books now, they do so to keep their jobs good jobs in Alaska for years to come.
Please contact Amarjeet if you have any questions: 907-272-6036 (wk) or 416-856-9587 (cell)