Newsom Breaks Tradition, Boycotts Hilton Luncheon
Mayor Won't Set Foot in Any of 14 Hotels in Dispute
San Francisco Chronicle - March 5, 2005
By George Raine

It's a tradition in San Francisco that the mayor address the annual Chamber of Commerce luncheon. You can say goodbye to one more tradition come Monday.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, listed among the main attractions at the chamber's 2005 CityBeat Luncheon on Monday at the San Francisco Hilton, will not appear, due to his personal boycott of the Hilton and 13 other hotels involved in a protracted labor dispute with union workers.

About 1,000 guests are expected for one of the chamber's most important gatherings of the year, and Newsom's absence underscores the depth and complexity of the labor dispute, which at its worst, saw the employers lock out 4,300 workers prior to the holidays.

"We are disappointed the mayor will not be in attendance,'' said Carol Piasente, a chamber vice president, who said Friday that the mayor's staff had told the chamber that Newsom is sending about 15 city department heads and senior aides to the luncheon but is keeping to his word not to frequent any of the 14 hotels until a contract is settled.

Newsom decided he would personally boycott the hotels -- although he is encouraging others to patronize them -- after their management twice turned down his request that employers and the union, Unite Here, agree to a cooling- off period.

Asked Friday whether the mayor regrets missing the luncheon, his aide, Peter Ragone, said, "There is regret the (hotels) did not end the lockout of workers when the mayor asked, and when they would not, he made it clear he would not return until a resolution was reached.''

Business interests in San Francisco have been critical of Newsom -- who on Oct. 26 briefly joined locked-out picketers at the St. Francis Hotel -- believing that his personal boycott aids and abets the union's campaign to drive business away from the 14 hotels.

Lee Blitch, the president and chief executive of the chamber, will have this comment at the Hilton's Continental Ballroom on Monday when Newsom's absence is explained:

"The visitor industry is San Francisco's top industry and deserves our support. The chamber's chief concern is the action the unions have taken to contact meeting planners around the country, to urge them not to bring their business to San Francisco. When our hotels lose business, the city's economy suffers -- and that has far-reaching consequences for city services.''

Mike Casey, the president of Unite Here Local 2, said the comment is inaccurate. He said the union is not boycotting the city, only 14 hotels, and urging meeting planners to send their business to other San Francisco hotels. A list of hotels that are not affected is provided to the meeting planners, said Casey.

"We are not trying to drive business out of San Francisco. We will continue to drive business from the 14 hotels until they sign a fair contract, '' he said.

By coincidence, the union will be picketing the Hilton on Monday, from 2 to 6 p.m. Casey said Friday that he did not know the chamber luncheon was to be there that day.

He called it "a happy coincidence,'' and said that perhaps chamber members "as they are leaving will grab a picket sign and extend their lunch for an hour.''

The chamber's Piasente noted that the union's picket line will be informational and that there is no strike or lockout, so members need not worry about crossing.

Newsom was elected with broad support from business, but he believed that the employers' lockout of the union workers, after about two weeks, was harsh.

When the lockout ultimately ended and the cooling-off period began Nov. 20 (it's in an open-ended extension), the mayor said he would do what he could to help both sides reach agreement.

One member of the chamber, Hans Hansson, president of Starboard Commercial Real Estate at 26 O'Farrell St., across from the Four Seasons Hotel, said Newsom's boycott is promoting the union effort to hurt the 14 hotels.

"He has to understand that (a boycott) affects the little guys probably more so than the hotels,'' said Hansson, referring to small businesses that rely on convention traffic.