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San Francisco Labor & Workers

Hotel Frank, AEW, & San Francisco Employees' Retirement System - Part 2 .

by Bill Carpenter (wcarpent [at] ccsf.edu)

Sun, May 27, 2012 12:46PM

Hotel Frank Workers in Third Year of Struggle:
On May 10th the struggle at the Hotel Frank entered its third year. The UNITE HERE Local 2 workers have increased picketing to five mornings per week (beginning at 7am), three afternoons, and every now and then on special occasions with several hundred protesters. AEW Capital Management, the owner of Hotel Frank, has retaliated -- the latest being the cutoff of all health insurance as of June 1st.

The Struggle Moves to a Broader Front:
The pension money of city workers in San Francisco is invested in AEW Capital Management! This video shows Hotel Frank workers being joined by SF city workers to demand the SF Employees' Retirement System disinvest from AEW.

Harry Baker, SEIU 1021, reminded the SFERS Board of Commissioners that the Board has invested some of his pension money and that of 12,000 other city workers in AEW and they object.

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Thirteen-minute QT movie. 56MB.

Part One: indybay.org/newsitems/2012/05/13/18713426.php
Part Two: This is Part Two.

More on today's action with photos

§SFERS

by Bill Carpenter

Sun, May 27, 2012 12:46PM

§Capt. Al Casciato

by Bill Carpenter

Sun, May 27, 2012 12:46PM

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What is the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System?

§SFERS

by Bill Carpenter

Sun, May 27, 2012 12:46PM

§Ali Abid

by Bill Carpenter

Sun, May 27, 2012 12:46PM

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The Wall St. Journal's MarketWatch.com, published this on January 20, 2012, but has since taken it down:
Buyer Beware: AEW May Seek to Unload Hotel Frank Labor Dispute, According to UNITE HERE Local 2
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 20, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — An affiliate of AEW Capital Management may be seeking to unload the Hotel Frank in San Francisco, which for nearly two years has been mired in a labor dispute with the hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE Local 2. Prospective buyers are urged to conduct thorough due diligence on the overhanging costs of this dispute before acquiring the property.
AEW Partners Fund VI acquired the Hotel Frank in December 2010 with Provenance Hotels — a small hotel management group. At the time AEW bought the property, Provenance had already provoked a labor dispute with the hotel’s employees. That dispute has only escalated since AEW entered the picture, burdening the property legal problems and a consumer boycott that could materially affect the value of the asset.
These include:
— An order by an Administrative Law Judge at the National Labor Relations Board to reinstate an illegally fired worker with 15 months of back pay. The hotel has not yet complied with this order.
— Over $800,000 in outstanding health and retirement payments on behalf of hotel employees.
— An active consumer boycott of the property, in support of which workers and others continue to contact customers regularly, urging them not to patronize the Hotel Frank. Meanwhile, regular and noisy picketlines greet customers at the hotel’s front door.
In addition, the property has been subject to multiple violations of San Francisco building code, including one outstanding complaint of unpermitted construction on the hotel’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors (which remain unoccupied by hotel guests).
These problems could amount to millions of dollars in outstanding costs, potential losses of future business, and necessary construction work. UNITE HERE urges prospective buyers to examine this property thoroughly before any potential acquisition.
SOURCE: UNITE HERE Local 2

See what travellers have been saying about the Hotel Frank:
Trip Advisor

§New Picket Schedule

by Bill Carpenter

Sun, May 27, 2012 12:46PM