Union confronts management with facts

September 13, 2009 8:00 PM

Seeking to completely replace many of the most important sections of the contract (including the grievance and arbitration procedure, union visitation rights, and other fundamental contract enforcement provisions) the Union came to negotiations well-prepared to justify its demands.

During most of the first day of negotiations, and at various points throughout the second and third days, the Union made the case for changing the contract by presenting one specific example after another of injustices management has inflicted on employees under the current weak contract.

In each specific case, Union negotiators read a carefully-documented report laying out the facts, and in most cases called on workers who were present in the room to come to the microphone to tell the story in their own words to a room full of other workers and of course Hilton's negotiators.

The Union negotiators then attempted to engage the management negotiators in an honest discussion about the case and invited them to correct any of the facts or explain management's point of view. In almost every case, the H.R. Managers refused to talk, and their attorney simply stonewalled.

Here are a few examples:

The Carlos Cintron Case

Cintron, a bellman, delegate, and negotiating committee member from the ESJ Hotel, testified about a recent run-in with HR manager Waleska Ortero. Carlos was called into Waleska Ortero's office, threatened with a final warning, and given a write up, all for complying with a Puerto Rican Labor Board agent's request for a copy of the union newsletter.

After Cintron laid out the facts, union negotiators asked Waleska to explain her actions. She did not dispute Cintron's account of the incident. Instead, she arrogantly responded that as far as she was concerned, Cintron was guilty of violating the hotel's policy by "distributing" "defamatory" union literature to the Department of Labor official. She refused to explain how handing over his only copy of the newsletter to a government agent requesting information for her investigation constituted "distribution." Asked what he thought of Waleska's actions, management's chief negotiator, attorney Desmond Massey, responded in an embarrassed tone of voice: "I would not have advised her to do that."

Cintron also explained that when he was being threatened by Waleska with a final warning, he informed her of an incident the same day in which Director of F&B Hugo Castro lost his temper in the lobby of the hotel, screaming and cursing in front of guests. Cintron asked Waleska why he was being punished for complying with the request of a government official while Castro was not being disciplined for such obviously unprofessional behavior. Union negotiators asked Waleska whether she had investigated the incident involving Castro. She responded that she had. Asked how, she responded that she had asked Castro about it. Castro is a personal friend of Waleska's and a fellow member of the same clique of El San Juan managers who, according to reports from employees, refer to themselves as "the Untouchables." Castro is also the same manager who went violently berserk in a grievance meeting with union representative George Padilla and who's behavior apparently went unpunished despite assurances by upper management that he was being suspended without pay (a grossly inadequate penalty given the seriousness of the infraction).

Then union negotiators pressed management to agree to remove the write-up from Cintron's file. Massey responded that he did not have authority to overrule the Director of Human Resources. Waleska refused to rescind the write-up and, true to her reputation for arrogance and unreasonableness, she also refused to justify her decision. One El San Juan employee who was present commented: "She is just too proud and stubborn to do the right thing."

Local 6 leader Peter Ward became progressively more outraged as he watched Waleska confirm the reports he has been receiving about her "hubris and arrogance" from Local 6 staff who have been on loan to Local 610 for several months. At one point during the discussion, Ward, a union leader with thirty year's experience told Waleska that she was the worst H.R. Manager he has ever met. At one point, Peter said "I've been hearing how badly people have been treated down here, but I didn't realize how unreasonable management was really being until sitting down at the negotiating table with these HR Director.

Case Management Retaliation Against Delegates

Augustine Periera Rodriguez, a banquet houseman delegate at the ESJ Hotel, stood up in the negotiations to respond to Hilton negotiators' claims that there was no need for additional contractual protections for union delegates. Augustine explained that his manager, Eduardo Grau, had given him a write up for insubordination and un-professional behavior for attempting to resolve a grievance. Augustine described how he went to speak with his manager about the fact that subcontracted workers had been brought in to do bargaining unit work. Eduardo, who Augustine said, is unable to take even a hint of criticism or questioning from his employees, began yelling that he was sick of all of Augustine's complaining. In turn, Augustine raised his voice to the manager. Although, any delegate is well within his rights to discuss grievances with managers, to raise his voice with managers, even to get angry at and argue with managers, Grau gave Augustine a written warning. That Grau gave Augustine a completely unwarranted write up is not only a violation of the contractual rights of a delegate, it illustrates how scared management is of a delegate's right to criticize and question managers as equals. Even at the negotiations, ESJ Hotel HR Director, Waleska Ortero, would not acknowledge Augustine's testimony with a response.

"We Could Go On All Day"

The list of cases presented in the negotiations went on and on, including a couple of workers who reported that management has been trying to make employees think that they will get in trouble for being involved in and for discussing the union negotiations. Bolivar Santiago, room attendant from the Condado Plaza, for instance stood up to explain how Jose Padin, in a recent morning briefing, tried to scare people out of getting involved in the union negotiations by saying something to the effect of "just remember, when this is over, when the union finishes the negotiations, it's you guys who will be left behind." Mildred Vazquez, from the Caribe also reported that managers have been telling Caribe Hilton employees that they are not allowed to talk about the union negotiations in the hallways of the hotel. As Local 610 negotiator, NY's Jim Donovan said, "We could go on all day presenting these cases."

As Eric Enchandilla, from the Condado Plaza, put it, "If management just had the decency to admit some of what they did wrong and fix what problems they can fix, the atmosphere of the negotiations would improve. Its frustrating to see that the same ego that prevents them from solving issues in the shop, is preventing them from solving them at the table as well."