Blackstone Hotel violated labor laws: judge (Feature story with photo of hotel)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=38785


Blackstone Hotel. Photo by Erik Unger


By: Alby Gallun July 07, 2010

(Crain’s) — A judge has ruled that the owner of the historic Blackstone Hotel broke federal labor laws protecting union activities, but the decision does not deliver the one thing the hotel union wants above all else: a labor contract.

Sage Hospitality Resources LLC, a Denver-based company that redeveloped the historic 332-room hotel along Grant Park, must restore health benefits that it cut last year and reinstate 14 room-service employees it dismissed, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board ordered last week.

The ruling represents a victory for Unite Here Local 1, the union that had accused Sage of using “fear and intimidation” to thwart Local 1’s efforts to negotiate an initial contract covering about 200 workers at the hotel. But Judge Mark Carissimi threw out some of the most incendiary charges against the hotel, and a Blackstone lawyer says an appeal is possible.

And while Blackstone and union representatives continue to negotiate, they remain far apart on a labor contract, with major disagreements over health and pension benefits. The next bargaining session is scheduled for early August.

“It’s very, very slow going on even the most basic stuff,” says Local 1 President Henry Tamarin. “It’s like pulling teeth.”

Sage reopened the landmark hotel at 636 S. Michigan Ave. in 2008 after a major renovation subsidized with $18 million in tax-increment financing from the city. Though Sage had said it would recognize the union through a so-called card-check agreement, the hotel later broke federal law when it tried to get employees to support a vote to decertify the union, the judge ruled.

FULL story at link.