wfn.org | United Methodist Daily News note 481

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (482
notes).

Note 481 by UMNS on Nov. 26, 1997 at 16:06 Eastern (3126 characters).

TITLE:	Hotel workers appeal to convocation reps

Contact:  Joretta Purdue  	669(10-71B){481}
		Washington  (202) 546-8722  	Nov. 26, 1997

EDITORS NOTE: This story may be a sidebar to UMNS #668 {480}.

Urban Convocation finds itself
in midst of complex labor situation

	SAN FRANCISCO (UMNS) -- More than 1,500 mostly United Methodists who attended
a convocation on urban ministry here found themselves in the middle of a labor
dispute, although most of the conference participants came and went unaware of
the struggle within the large hotel.
	Demonstrations on the sidewalk in front of the San Francisco Marriott Hotel
were held at noon on Nov. 22, the beginning day of the Holy Boldness Urban
Convocation, and at 4 p.m. Nov. 25, the concluding day.
	The majority of the conference participants arrived after the first
leafletting and left before the second. Nearly 1,300 of the 1,550 registrants
stayed at the Marriott, which has 1,500 rooms. A few blocks away, another
major hotel housed 250 registrants.
	Union representatives were invited to air their complaints at a gathering of
some members of the United Methodist Concern for Workers Task Force, who were
originally called together to review assignments prior to the task force's
next meeting in February 1998.
	A subsequent meeting with the United Methodist National Urban Strategy
Council resulted in a delegation speaking with Hotel Manager Kristine K.
Gagliardi to share concerns.
	The National Urban Strategy Council, which planned the convocation, replaces
the National Urban Network, which was related to the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries.
	According to Diane Johnson, president of the National Urban Strategy Council,
Gagliardi agreed that negotiations between the hotel and the local union had
broken down but insisted that Marriott was not against having a contract. The
corporation objects to the contract in effect in most of the hotels in the
city and wants "a contract unique to Marriott," Johnson reported.
	Agreements created in 1980 with the city permitted Marriott to build the
large hotel on reclaimed land but included provisions and obligations on the
part of the corporation. The hotel opened in 1989 and currently employs about
1,100 people.
	Pro-union representatives said that more than half of the employees in
certain areas, including waiters and waitresses, kitchen crew and housekeepers
have signed cards selecting the union but a contract has not been reached. The
union has accused Marriott of unfair labor practices. Marriott has denied it.
	United Methodists, besides Johnson, who met with Gagliardi Nov. 25 included
the Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, assistant general secretary of the churchwide
Board of Global Ministries; Bishop Jonathan Keaton of the East Ohio Area; the
Rev. Garry Winget, treasurer of the National Urban Strategy Council; and Mark
Harrison, a program director with the denomination's Board of Church and
Society.
	This group -- with the Rev. Alan Jones of the San Francisco United Methodist
Mission Center -- will continue to be in touch with both parties in the
dispute, Johnson said.
	#  #  #

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------