Hyatt Newporter Workers Vote Down Bid to Unionize

The Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 681 said Wednesday it has lost an organizing fight at the Hyatt Newporter. But soothing the pain was a smooth victory at the new Disneyland Pacific Hotel.

The defeat at the Newporter, a 410-room hotel in Newport Beach with more than 225 employees, stifled the Santa Ana-based local’s first bid to crack the South County hotel market.

In early January, union organizers filed for a government-supervised election, presenting cards of support from 75% of the housekeepers, waiters and other employees of the hotel. Some of them said they were backing the union to obtain better wages and respect from management.

But by election time last Friday, the union’s support had clearly waned as the outcome of the vote was 139 to 87.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” said Angela Keefe, president of Local 681, whose organizers had been working on the Newporter for months.

Keefe blamed the defeat on a furious anti-union drive by management, and she accused hotel managers of intimidating workers. But Keefe said the local would not file any charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Barry Lewin, the Newporter’s general manager, declined to comment about any allegations of unfair play. He said: “The employees made the decision that they thought was going to be best for them. They had confidence in the management, and we are very happy with that.”

It was a different story in Anaheim, where Local 681 strengthened its presence along the Disneyland corridor by signing up 220 workers at the former Pan Pacific Hotel.

The 502-room hotel, built and owned by Tokyu Corp. of Japan, was sold last December to Walt Disney Co., which has long recognized unions at its amusement parks and hotels.

When Local 681 presented Disney with signatures of support from a majority of workers at the newly named Disneyland Pacific, the company agreed--without a formal vote--to give those workers the same contract most employees at the Disneyland Hotel next door enjoy.

As of result, housekeepers at Disneyland Pacific this month saw their average hourly pay climb 16% to $7.31, from $6.30, according to Keefe.

A Disney spokesman declined to comment beyond confirming that the union has been recognized at the new hotel, which Disney bought as part of its scaled-down expansion in Anaheim.

Keefe said that with the addition, Local 681 has organized most of the major hotels in the Disneyland area. She said the local is now targeting some of the remaining few to close the circle in that growing region.