The Service Employees International Union Local 790 Librarians’ Caucus, representing librarians at the San Francisco Public Library, is urging those attending the upcoming ALA Annual Conference not to stay at Marriott hotel properties in light of ongoing labor negotiations. They have also urged the Association to refrain from contracting with Marriott hotels at any future conference until “Marriott cleans up their act.”
The San Francisco Marriott is among the hotels included in the conference campus and has been contracted as the headquarters hotel. “This is a disaster,” Adelaide Chen, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union spokesperson said in a January 26 letter to the ALA Council. “The ALA will be breaking a boycott, potentially crossing picket lines, and siding with corporate lawbreakers.”
Although the ALA contract was signed in October 1997, Senior Associate Executive Director Mary Ghikas said, “We are making every effort to ensure that members are aware of the situation when they make hotel reservations and that they be given an opportunity to choose a different hotel.” She said Marriott representatives have informed ALA that they hope to have a signed union contract before June.
Posted February 5, 2001.