A plea for fair and free union elections

By law, American workers have the right to form labor unions, thereby bargaining collectively as one voice to improve their joint working conditions. On Dec. 13, the workers at the Sheraton Stamford Hotel will make a decision on whether to form such a union. Between now and then, those workers will hear the arguments of both the union supporters and hotel management regarding the merits of forming the proposed union.

Many of us have met and have gotten to know these workers. They are our neighbors, our friends, and our peers, and they deserve the opportunity to work hard and to provide for their families. Many of them believe that their best hopes for negotiating fair wages for their labor will be through collective bargaining as union members. We agree. For generations, labor unions have opened and expanded middle class life, bringing fair and decent wages and benefits to millions of American workers.

We have serious concerns about how the management of the Sheraton Stamford Hotel has approached this union election. The right of these workers to engage in a fair and free election process has been compromised by heavy-handed tactics of a reluctant management. Davidson Hotels & Resorts, the Atlanta-based management of the hotel and its owner, the Ohio-based private equity firm Rockbridge Capital LLC, have retained Cruz & Associates, a West Coast-based antiunion consulting firm, to represent the interests of management.

Cruz & Associates is well-known for its work for the Trump International Las Vegas, where it employed aggressive tactics to intimidate workers. We are deeply concerned about reports from Sheraton Stamford workers of a range of highly questionable and coercive anti-union maneuvers — from mandatory threehour anti-union presentations, to female workers being cornered alone in guest rooms for impromptu “one-on-one” sessions to discourage support for unionization.

There may be specific circumstances where workers might be beneficially employed in certain industries where those workers have chosen not to organize. And there are legitimate ways for management to make its arguments to workers in an open and good faith dialogue. But the alleged shameful tactics of Cruz & Associates have no place in any legitimate discussion, and are not worthy of our community.

We sincerely hope the management of the Sheraton Stamford Hotel will reconsider its approach to this union election and reject all forms of illegitimate and disreputable tactics. The hotel industry is founded on a welcoming hospitality and a cordial congeniality toward the public. Those core principles are undermined by any intimidation or coercion of the workers that are employed to promote those principles. We believe the workers should be given the dignity they have earned to make their choice freely, in a process free from intimidation. In this, we will stand with our neighbors, the workers of the Sheraton Stamford Hotel.