SAN DIEGO / Sept. 6, 2001--Today, after nearly a year of bitter dispute, unionized employees of the Hotel Del Coronado voted to ratify a new contract negotiated between the Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees International Union Local 30 and Destination Hotels and Resorts, the management company which operates the hotel.

Workers voted by a 94% margin in favor of the contract.

"I was so proud to cast my ballot today in favor of the best contract we've ever had," said Nelia Mills, a Hotel Del housekeeper for over 20 years. "It's been a long haul. Over 400 of us struck for the first time that anyone in the union can remember, and then we called a boycott on our own hotel. It's been really hard for us and our families. But now we're getting everything we needed, so it's all been worth the fight."

The settlement offer elevates Hotel Del Coronado wages and benefits, which have lagged behind other San Diego hotels despite the Hotel Del's leading the scale in room rates and occupancy rates for the region. "HERE has represented Hotel Del workers for decades, and this contract was the first we negotiated with Destination Resorts," said Jef Eatchel, Secretary Treasurer of Local 30 and a Vice President of HERE's International Union. "It's a vast improvement in all areas. Finally we have a first class contract for this world class hotel."

In addition to wage increases, the settlement offer includes new economic benefits such as sick leave, increased employer contributions to the union pension and health care funds, and a phasing in of new holidays.

New employee rights include improved seniority, critical workload protections for housekeepers--who industry-wide suffer the highest injury rate of all hotel workers--and a ground-breaking neutrality provision, which provides 230 unrepresented workers with a fair way to join the union, without the delays and anti-union campaigns that often accompany traditional National Labor Relations Board Elections.

While many new hotels across the country and in Canada have negotiated neutrality agreements with HERE Locals, San Diego's Local 30 is the first hotel workers union in North America to negotiate neutrality in a collective bargaining agreement for unrepresented workers who work at a hotel where there is an existing bargaining unit.

"This is huge," said Eatchel. "Our current members at the Del fought to improve their own conditions, but they also held out for the rights of their unorganized brothers and sisters." Members know unorganized coworkers will benefit from neutrality because they experienced an anti-union campaign. "Our workers saw management hire a union buster named Jay Krupin at the beginning of bargaining. Workers saw the union defend them when they received threats for supporting the union, and felt the power of solidarity when they walked off the job in the first strike we've had during my 19 years in office. Our members fought for change, and we've won," said Eatchel.

Jef Eatchel
619/233-4379
UNITE HERE