Vigil calls for justice at Holiday Inn Select, BLOOMINGTON MN

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_2767

Vigil calls for justice at Holiday Inn Select
By Michael Moore, St. Paul Union Advocate editor
5 November 2006
BLOOMINGTON - A prayer vigil outside the Holiday Inn Select called for justice for workers.

Nine times in the opening litany of their prayer vigil outside the Holiday Inn Select on Nov. 2, members of the Twin Cities Religion and Labor Network and UNITE HERE Local 17 asked the question, "Why are we here?"

Why, indeed, would anyone volunteer to stand outside on a Thursday night, with an important election less than a week away, with a wind chill driving temperatures well below freezing?

The answer is this: to serve as witnesses to injustice.

In the summer of 2005, 76 percent of Holiday Inn Select employees signed cards in support for forming a union, citing lack of respect from management, poor pay and an increase in workplace injuries. But rather than voluntarily recognizing its workers' organizing efforts, the Holiday Inn Select asked the National Labor Relations Board to oversee an election.

That election was marred by smear campaigns, scare tactics, and illegal surveillance on the company's part, and not surprisingly, workers voted against forming a union. What's more, almost all of the core of 20 employees responsible for organizing the drive left their jobs – many motivated by fear – shortly after the vote.

The NLRB subsequently tossed out those election results, but ownership has refused to make amends, repeatedly refusing to sign a labor-peace agreement.


FULL story at link above.