The Petaluma Sheraton Story

Petaluma Argus Courier
May 9, 2007

The Sheraton Petaluma Hotel recently hosted a much-acclaimed Artisan Cheese Festival attracting more than a thousand visitors. The Sheraton story is an important chapter in the emergence of a new labor movement in California, which is seeking to organize low-wage and immigrant workers and to create partnerships for career mobility in traditionally low-wage industries.

A recent report," The Limits of Prosperity," by New Economy, Working Solutions (NEWS) analyzed the dramatic increase of income inequality in the North Bay over the last two decades and the emergence of an 'hourglass economy,' with job growth concentrated at the top and bottom of the labor market while the middle is contracting--particularly as the crash of the telecommunications industry led to the loss of 5000 tech jobs between 2001-2004 as firms moved manufacturing abroad.

The NEWS report emphasized that more than 30 percent of the workers in the North Bay do not earn an hourly 'living wage' sufficient for two parents working full-time to support a two-child family. A living wage in 2003 was $13.25 an hour for Sonoma and $14.50 an hour for Napa, after adjusting for the cost of living in each county. Latino workers who are clustered in agriculture and the low wage service sector experience higher rates of working poverty: in both counties nearly 45% do not earn a living wage. Most alarmingly, the report indicates that 62% of the jobs created in the North Bay between 2001-2008 will pay an entry wage of less than $12.00 an hour.

As a consequence of this dramatic polarization of wealth and incomes, business, labor, and local government are developing new models to upgrade traditional low wage work, particularly service sector jobs that can't move to nations with lower labor costs.

'Responsible' or 'accountable' development is one of the most promising policy initiatives gaining momentum in California. In 2001 state and local government provided $11 billion in tax abatements, redevelopment assistance, and infrastructure subsidies to private business. Usually firms that receive public funding are not held responsible for the quality of jobs including wage rates and benefits, or the opportunities for career mobility.

Over the last decade, in response to advocacy and organizing by labor, faith, and community organizations, many California cities and counties have mandated that new development projects receiving public funding create good jobs and provide other 'community benefits' such as affordable housing, parks, and child care services.

The Sheraton Petaluma is a local example of such responsible development. In 2000, the Living Wage Coalition and the North Bay Labor Council successfully lobbied the Petaluma City Council to mandate labor standards for the hotel. In return for $2.75 million in redevelopment loans and tax breaks, the owner-developer of the Sheraton agreed to pay a living wage to the workers at the hotel, to abide by federal and state labor law and to remain neutral if hotel employees sought an election for union representation.

In 2005 the workers at the Sheraton voted for representation by UNITEHERE Local 2850. Last fall the union and management signed a three-year contract. All non-tipped employees such as housekeepers, janitors, and dishwashers will receive total wage increases of $1.30 an hour over three years. Employees who work as few as 16 shifts per month will now qualify for medical benefits, paid time off, and retirement benefits.

Employee co-payments for medical were cut significantly, and each year will decline further. Housekeepers, who experience high rates of work related injuries, also received a workload reduction. The hourly wages at the Sheraton are substantially better than the industry norm, and at nonunion hotels company-provided medical benefits, particularly for part-time workers, are out of reach.

In San Francisco, 11 Class A hotels, UNITEHERE Local 2, and the City College of San Francisco established the San Francisco Partnerships Project in 1994 that today provides classes to 5000 hotel workers, from ESL and basic skills to culinary arts and hospitality management. Funded by business and labor contributions, this program boosts productivity and creates career ladders that enable dishwashers to become chefs, housekeepers to become banquet waiters, and busboys to become wine stewards. NEWS and the Living Wage Coalition are working with Sheraton management, the Petaluma Adult School, and Santa Rosa Junior College to establish a similar workforce training program.

Since the first contract was signed many businesses, nonprofits, and unions have moved their conferences, annual dinners, and trainings to the Sheraton. Everyone concerned about the growing economic divide in the region should support this hotel!

Martin J. Bennett teaches American history at Santa Rosa Junior College and serves as Co-Chair of the Living Wage Coalition of Sonoma County (Note: the above is an unedited version of the Guest Commentary printed by the Argus).