SFO Marriott Employees Request Labor Board Vote to Remove Unwanted UNITE-HERE Union Officials

San Francisco, CA (September 23, 2024) – Employees of the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront Hotel have requested an election to remove UNITE-HERE Local 2 union officials from their workplace. Hotel employee Erika Chavez just submitted a petition seeking such a vote to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 20 in San Francisco with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Chavez’s petition contains around 75 signatures, well over the 30% required to trigger such a vote under NLRB rules.

Because California lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector employees, Unite Here union officials have the legal privilege to force Chavez and her coworkers to pay dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. In Right to Work states, in contrast, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

According to the petition, Chavez’s work unit consists of nearly 200 “Regular Employees and Pool Employees,” which includes housekeeping staff, front desk workers, and more. If the NLRB administers Chavez and her colleagues’ requested election and a majority vote against keeping the union, the Marriott workers will be free of Unite Here officials’ power to speak and contract for all workers in the facility (even those who oppose the union), and the obligation to pay dues or be fired.

“Unite Here union officials have made our lives harder at this hotel,” commented Chavez. “We would be better off without their rules and dues demands, and we hope the NLRB will let us exercise our right to vote them out.”

Workers Across Country Seek Foundation Aid in Removing Unite Here Union

San Francisco isn’t the only place where workers have recently sought to vote out Unite Here union officials with Foundation legal aid. In May, employees at Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square hotel successfully petitioned for a decertification vote against Unite Here Local 25 union officials after they bypassed the standard secret-ballot union election process and instead swept to power through the suspect “card check” process. Mwandu Chibwe, who submitted that petition, and a majority of her coworkers voted against the union’s continued presence, but Foundation attorneys are currently battling an attempt by Unite Here lawyers to overturn that result.

Since 2023, Foundation attorneys have also helped two sets of workers at Philadelphia International Airport obtain votes to oust Unite Here Local 274 union officials.

Biden-Harris Administration Restraining Workers Who Want to Oust Unions

The new efforts come as decertification petition filings have gone up over 40% since 2020 (according to NLRB data) and workers are voluntarily affiliating with unions at record-low rates. Despite workers’ desire to get away from unions that don’t serve their interests, the Biden-Harris NLRB has just issued a final rule which will make it much harder for rank-and-file workers to exercise their right to vote out union officials they oppose. One part of the new rule lets union officials prevent decertification votes from going forward by filing unverified “blocking charges” alleging employer interference.

“Union officials, who often seek ways to keep dues money flowing even from workers who oppose them, frequently challenge employees when they seek to exercise their right to vote out unwanted union ‘representation,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Foundation attorneys have seen this in the past with other workers who have sought to oust Unite Here union bosses, and it doesn’t help that the Biden-Harris NLRB has been pushing policy after policy designed to aid union bosses in trapping workers under union ‘representation.’

“Foundation attorneys are proud to help Ms. Chavez and her coworkers fight any roadblocks in their effort. But their rights and the rights of workers across the country to free themselves from unwanted union officials shouldn’t hinge on the Biden-Harris Administration’s union boss power giveaways,” Mix added.