“I think with the new management and new owner we’ve seen a shift away from the anti-union tactics that the previous owner had taken,” union spokeswoman Paulina Gonzalez said. “We’ve just been in conversations and the labor dispute has continued but I think everyone saw it in their best interest that it was time to put this to an end.”
Previous hotel owners and management clashed with employees over how they should register their support for organizing.
Former hotel owner Eagle Hospitality and manager Hilton Hotel refused to allow the employee-favored card check neutrality process, which lets workers register their vote from the privacy of their own home. Hotel ownership and management supported a secret-ballot election overseen by the National Labor Review Board, but the union said that process intimidates workers and often triggers a lengthy appeals process.
Eagle sold the hotel in August to the New York-based Apollo Real Estate Investment Fund, in a joint partnership with Aimbridge Hospitality LP and JF Capital Advisors LLC. Former hotel general manager Linda Norman left her post shortly after and was replaced by current general manager, Benson Lee. The management company, Hilton Hotels Corp., did not change.
“As a new general manager coming in here, I came in here wanting to listen to all our employees and hear what their wishes and desires are,” Lee said. “We just really wanted to come to some amicable resolution to the conflict and move forward and take care of the business and take care of our guests and I understand it had an impact on some of our guests and the community.”
Since initiating their boycott in June 2006, workers and union volunteers led dozens of demonstrations outside the hotel — often on days the hotel was hosting large social and business events — and lobbied many Glendale organizations to honor the boycott.
