Soviet-Style “Justice” at the Condado Plaza

This week, managers at the Condado Plaza reached new lows of injustice by resorting to the barbaric practice of inflicting collective punishment on innocent employees for the suspected act of one unknown person. The incident, in which a bottle of wine was supposedly knocked over, soaking a stack of linen napkins, occurred some time after the July 11 night shift ended. It was then that a waitress noticed the soiled napkins in the cage at the back of the house, and reported it to David Rojas, one of the banquet managers. Rather than investigate, Rojas simply assumed that one of the waiters did it. Rojas decided to write up every waiter, except the waitress who reported the incident, and to keep the write-ups in their personnel files until someone came forward to confess.

According to union delegate Gil Rosales, management did nothing to find out how a bottle of wine could have been knocked over onto some napkins. No one who worked the function that night has been questioned. Rosales did his own investigation and concluded that an open bottle of wine could have been left out on a tray, but that anyone could have bumped into it because it occurred at the back of the house where a houseman, or a steward, or a musician, or one of the party staff or even a manager could have accidentally and unknowingly bumped into the tray with the wine bottle on it.

After Rosales filed for the first step in the arbitration process, the bartenders found themselves written-up as well, according to Mr. Rojas because "they handle wine all the time," bringing the total number of workers accused of spilling wine on napkins to fifteen. 

One bartender protested: "of course I handle wine! I'm a bartender! Why should I be written up because I handle wine?!"

Rosales commented: "this is just nuts. They are knowingly punishing people they know are innocent because maybe one of us might be guilty. I've never heard of any employer doing anything so blatantly stupid and unfair."

In fact, HR Assistant Director Mariela Colon told several banquet waiters that "management can write up anybody for anything, whether or not it is true, whether or not there is any evidence, and it's the worker's responsibility to take it to arbitration to defend themselves."

Sign it or else

The waiters and bartenders unanimously refused to sign the write-ups falsely accusing them of spilling wine on napkins. Management threatened all of them with a second round of write-ups for insubordination if they did not sign the first write-up. As outrageous as it seems, it is nonetheless the current practice at the Condado Plaza. Rosales noted that these write-ups can remain on file forever and be used for further discipline, unless they are contested. So, on the advice of Local 6 representative George Padilla, the waiters and bartenders signed the write-ups in front of management, but each also wrote: "I am in complete disagreement with this write-up and am only signing it because I was threatened by a manager, and I will contest this write-up in the grievance and arbitration process."

Union remains committed to fighting abuses by management

The level of disrespect management continues to display is surpassed only by their arrogance. Food and Beverage manager Roberto Valencia told the housemen that if he finds one dirty tablecloth or napkin left out, he will write all of them up. Anita Hernandez, the Director of Catering, did not mince words when she told Gil Rosales and several waiters that an outside hiring agency was brought in to replace the entire banquet staff at the Wyndam Rio Mar when they were all fired. Rosales stood his ground and replied that Hernandez can try to do whatever she wants, but the union will not allow her to get away with anything, especially the recent mass write-up campaign launched by the Condado.

According to one outraged waiter: "If there is a strike at the Hilton properties in Puerto Rico, the company will have managers like David Rojas, Anita Hernandez, and Roberto Valencia to thank for it."

A grievance meeting about these write-ups, the second step in the grievance process, has been scheduled for 2 pm on Wednesday, July 22, in the Human Resources Office of the Condado Plaza. The results of that meeting will be reported in the next newsletter.