{"id":120,"date":"2009-01-19T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T23:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terragrafix.com\/blog\/?p=120"},"modified":"2009-01-19T23:56:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-19T23:56:00","slug":"city-council-orders-woodfin-to-pay-workers-200000-in-back-wages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=120","title":{"rendered":"City Council Orders Woodfin to Pay Workers $200,000 in Back Wages"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by Brian Donahue<\/span><\/p>\n


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Current and former Woodfin Suites Hotel workers<\/span>, cheated out of $200,000 in wages by the company, won a major victory Thursday when the Emeryville City Council<\/span> ordered the hotel to make good on its debt. The Council rejected Woodfin’s appeal of the city manager’s finding in 2006, ordering the hotel to pay the additional wages to comply with city ordinance. Failure to comply would result in the Woodfin being denied a renewal of its permit to operate.
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In a 2-2 vote, the Council rejected Woodfin’s argument that it is in compliance with Measure C, a 2004 initiative that established a “living wage” for workers at Emeryville hotels, and also set guidelines for working conditions. <\/span>The hotel needed a majority to win its appeal.
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The Thursday council vote capped a marathon five-day hearing — yet another skirmish in the war of attrition<\/span> between supervisors and hotel room cleaners that has dragged on since activists began gathering signatures for Measure C four years ago.
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<\/span>“Its bad business,” Council Member John Fricke said after the meeting. “They’ve already spent more on fighting this than what the workers are asking for.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fricke and Council Member Ruth Atkin voted in favor of the workers. Mayor Dick Kassis and Council Member Nora Davis voted against the workers, and in favor of the Woodfin and its owner, Sam Hardage, former chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party and major Republican fundraiser.
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Drama reached a crescendo when Woodfin attorneys accused Fricke and Vice Mayor Ken Bukowski of a pro-worker bias and asked them to recuse themselves. Bukowski agreed, but Fricke refused, stating that he harbored no such bias and could vote objectively.
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The Woodfin has consistently argued that room cleaners are not owed the $200,000 in pay because they received help with their work from supervisors. When asked to elaborate, Woodfin attorneys said that supervisors helped clean the rooms “with their eyes and their heads,” and therefore the wages owed to rank-and-file employees are considerably lower. <\/span><\/p>\n


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Woodfin Suites Hotels, a privately held company, was founded by CEO Hardage, who earned the rank of “pioneer” in the 2004 George Bush re-election campaign by raising more than $100,000 in contributions. In 2008, Hardage raised about the same amount for Arizona Sen. John McCain<\/span>‘s presidential bid. Hardage also was a major contributor to the re-election campaign of Randy “Duke” Cuningham, now serving time in federal prison for accepting kick-backs from military contractors.
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A Christian evangelical, Hardage may wish to re-read the biblical story of David and Goliath and discern its meaning. <\/span><\/p>\n

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