Hotel Workers union call for boycott of two San Francisco hotels

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Hotel workers are calling for a boycott of two San Francisco hotels that have allegedly rejected employee calls to unionize.

Unite Here Local 2, the union for hotel and restaurant workers in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, are holding demonstrations at the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf and the Le Meridien Hotel all day Monday and Tuesday to demand that the hotel owner, Maryland-based Chesapeake Lodging Trust, approve a fair process where workers can choose to unionize.

The demonstrations are intended to coincide with the hotels' Institutional and Investor Security Analyst Conference.

"The owners, the Chesapeake Lodging Trust, are hosting an event for their financial analysts to showcase how successful they are," Unite Here Local 2 spokeswoman Tho Do said. "We want to be there to show what it's like being in a labor dispute in the San Francisco community."

The hotels are both described on their websites as recently renovated "luxury" establishments.

According to union officials, the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf and the Le Meridien Hotel are the only two hotels in San Francisco with an active labor dispute.

"They are outliers (in San Francisco)," Do said. "The owners are not here, they don't really care what's going on with our community."

Representatives of Chesapeake Lodging Trust could not be immediately reached for comment.

"We want to send a message to the owners here hosting the event that the entire San Francisco community is standing with the Chesapeake workers," Do said. "We're calling on the employer to agree to a fair process to unionize. We hope they hear us loud and clear that we're going to continue and it's not going to be business as usual."