Union Objects to Poster as Nazi Imagery

A poster that union organizers say depicts them as Nazis is adding extra emotion to a labor fight at Santa Monica’s only unionized hotel.

Jewish community leaders and Miramar Sheraton Hotel workers gathered Thursday to decry what they said were offensive anti-union tactics by hotel management as members of Local 814 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union prepare for a decertification vote Wednesday.

The unionists and their sympathizers called on the Miramar Sheraton to remove a poster displayed in an employees-only area of the hotel, which they said portrayed an organizer as Adolf Hitler.

The poster, copies of which were displayed at the rain-spattered demonstration, showed a man with a Hitler-like mustache wearing an armband reading “814,” riding boots and a uniform with pockets stuffed full of money.

The figure is shown pointing to a Spanish-language list of union requirements such as “Pay dues to the union” and “Make your friends feel guilty.”

“Arguing is an old Jewish tradition . . . but there are rules of decency even in arguing, and the management of this hotel and their hired consultants have crossed the line of decency,” said Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of the Beth Shir Sholom temple in Santa Monica.

Jews have long been offended by the casual invocation of Hitler’s image, maintaining that such usage trivializes his legacy of genocide.

Santa Monica City Councilman Michael Feinstein said he felt the poster “even surpasses the normal sleaze that we see associated with these kinds of campaigns, and I’m offended as a human being and I’m offended as a Jew.”

Management circulated a written statement at the demonstration apologizing for any offense caused by the poster, saying it “was not intended to depict any historic character.”

“It absolutely was not a likeness to anyone,” hotel General Manager Bill Worcester said in a telephone interview. He said the poster and others in a series were approved by the hotel’s lawyers before being displayed, and he dismissed the outcry as a diversionary tactic on the part of the union.

“The real issue is do our employees want to continue to be represented by Local 814?” Worcester said.

Local 814 has represented the 240 employees at the hotel for decades. If a majority who cast ballots Wednesday favor decertification, the union would no longer be their bargaining agent.

Local 814 lead organizer Kurt Petersen said employees at the Sheraton Miramar filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board in May 1995, calling for a decertification election. Petersen charged that the hotel was behind the petition drive, which management denied.

Sidney Rosen, a spokesman for the labor board’s regional office, said the decertification election has been stalled because Local 814 filed a series of claims of unfair labor practices against the hotel.

Julio Valera, a bartender employed at the hotel for one year, said consultants hired by the hotel have been meeting with each of the hotel’s workers to intimidate them into voting for decertification.

General Manager Worcester said workers’ meetings with representatives from a consulting firm were informational only.