The State Plaza Hotel is located at 2117 E ST NW in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. There are 228 rooms and 51 suites. The rooms in the State Plaza are the size of small apartments, contain kitchens and frequently have multiple occupants.  The Union, UNITE HERE Local 25, represents all of the non-supervisory staff, about fifty workers in all. The workforce is largely Salvadorian and female. The State Plaza is owned by RB Associates, a holding company solely controlled by Richard Bernstein, and is operated by RB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Classic Hospitality.  These corporate Bernstein-owned and controlled entities also own and operate four other hotels in Washington, the Lombardy Hotel, Morrison-Clark Hotel, Washington Plaza Hotel and the Henley Park Hotel.

Well over three years ago, in the spring of 2003, workers from the State Plaza first approached Local 25 seeking to form a union. The issues prompting them to create a union included an unmanageable workload, disrespect in the workplace and lack of an affordable health plan. To our knowledge, because it is exorbitantly expensive in relation to worker’s salaries, only two workers currently subscribe to the family health plan.

                During the organizing drive, the Hotel launched an all-out effort to defeat support for the Union through a combination of threats and bribes. Despite the Hotel’s efforts, State Plaza workers voted 2 to 1 to join the Union in an NLRB-supervised election held in September 2003.  Rather than recognizing the clear will of the workers, however, management instead immediately filed “objections” to the election.  Although all of these objections were found to be without merit and the NLRB certified the results of the election, the hotel succeeded in delaying bargaining by nearly ten months. Meanwhile, management closed the restaurant - a stronghold of support for the Union – indefinitely, ostensibly for renovations. The union supporters in the restaurant (which comprised about a quarter of the total workforce) have by necessity been forced to find other jobs. To date, over two years later, no renovations have begun.

Once required to recognize the Union, the Hotel only redoubled its efforts to thwart the will of its workers.  Its boldest move was to initiate a decertification drive.  Through anti-union workers it recruited, management promised State Plaza workers a raise to $12.50 per hour -- by far the largest pay jump any employee had seen in the hotel, amounting to about a 15-20% percent increase among the housekeeping staff -- in return for signing a petition to decertify the union. At the same time, management officials used threats and other illegal means to dissuade the Union’s supporters.  As the NLRB found, the hotel “resorted to every illicit means to thwart the employees’ union and to destroy the Union’s certified status as the employees’ collective bargaining representative in its incipiency.”  Indeed, the Hotel’s course of conduct was so egregious that the NLRB successfully petitioned a federal court to issue an injunction in June 2006 ordering the hotel to recognize the Union, return to the bargaining table, bargain in good faith, and otherwise comply with federal labor laws.  This type of relief – called a “10(j)” injunction -- is an extreme measure taken by the NLRB in only a handful of the many thousands of cases heard by the agency each year.

Many State Plaza workers have understandably been scared and demoralized by the lengthy delays and retaliation they witnessed against Union supporters. But despite the intimidation tactics, a group of brave workers continues to stand up to management and demand a contract. Their ongoing efforts to organize their co-workers have resulted in significant movement and growth in the last few months. For example, they have successfully encouraged many of their co-workers to publicly display their support of the Union by wearing union ID badges in the employee cafeteria, and have also led their co-workers on two recent informational picket-lines in front of the Hotel.

But the fundamental injustices persist. The workload and abusive treatment continue to wear both emotionally and physically on workers daily. The Hotel has engaged in a campaign of fear and intimidation, including threatening workers’ livelihoods, in order to avoid negotiating a fair contract. Management’s aggressive response to the workers’ choice to organize only serves to highlight workers’ need for a union contract to protect their rights. Although the Union continues to meet with management’s representatives and put forward proposals in an effort to reach an agreement, the Hotel’s long record of hostility gives the Union and its supporters reason to be concerned about management’s true intentions.  If workers are to achieve an agreement that meaningfully improves their working conditions and wages, they will be required to show even more courage than they already have during the past three years of this long struggle.