An administrative law judge has issued a benchmark ruling that could return jobs to some of the Pacific Beach Hotel workers who lost them during a more than two-year labor dispute.
A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled this week that the Pacific Beach Hotel bargained in bad faith and illegally fired some union employees, among other charges. Above, legislator and union workers, holding giant puppets portraying real workers, picketed last year in front of the hotel.
Judge James Kennedy upheld 15 of 16 National Labor Relations Board charges filed by ILWU Local 142 on behalf of workers at the Pacific Beach Hotel at the conclusion of a 13-day hearing that ended Wednesday. The charges, which date back to 2007, stemmed from a lengthy battle between the union and Pacific Beach Hotel over its right to represent workers.
“This is a very significant win for the NLRB and the union,” said Tom Cestare, officer-in-charge of the NLRB office in Hawaii. “It’s the biggest case that we’ve had here in years, and it’s sure to attract national attention.” continue reading