Space Needle workers rally

SEATTLE'S FAMOUS Space Needle opened 50 years ago as part of the 1962 World's Fair, and anniversary events are planned for all summer long.

But on April 21, the opening celebration was disrupted by 150 members and supporters of UNITE HERE Local 8 who were demanding a decent contract for employees of the privately owned Space Needle Corp. Most of the UNITE HERE members work in the restaurant at the top of the Needle, but some operate elevators and do other work for the company.

The action started with a loud and lively picket on the sidewalk near the Space Needle. Demonstrators heard from workers at the Space Needle and solidarity statements from airport workers who are campaigning to win union contracts for 4,000 workers without health care or other benefits.

Lynne Dodson, the secretary-treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council also promised support from the 400,000-plus AFL-CIO members in Washington state. The Seattle Labor Chorus sang pro-labor songs, including one written specifically for the Space Needle workers. At the end, several UNITE-HERE staff members, including Local 8 Secretary-Treasurer Erik Van Rossum, were arrested along with Dodson for blocking the driveway into the Space Needle in a planned civil disobedience.

The key issue for the Space Needle workers is job security. Management is pushing subcontracting, and the union wants that taken off the table. Management has also only offered wage increases for a few categories of workers. Space Needle management has opened another nonunion operation next door under another corporate name to provide catering. It refuses to let any union workers apply for jobs there. Workers fear that if subcontracting is allowed, their jobs will go to the nonunion corporation.

One worker, a recent immigrant from China, said, "I came to the U.S. to find a better life. But since working here for three years, I have never been able to afford to take a vacation. Now my job is threatened. We all need to stand together and let the corporation know that we won't accept this."

Sanjeet Thebe, a server assistant at the Space Needle, said "I could be replaced any day with temporary workers making lower wages and no benefits. Living under this stress has not been good--for me and for my family."

As Dodson explained to the crowd, "Fifty years ago, these were good union jobs. People could support their families on the wages they earned here. In 1962 , working class families could afford to come to Seattle on vacation and visit the World's Fair. After years of attacks on unions and workers' wages, that is no longer true. We need to turn this around, starting now."

AFTER FIRST agreeing to negotiate over wages for most workers, management refused to discuss the issues further. On February 9, Space Needle workers overwhelmingly rejected a "last and final" offer from management. The dispute is now in federal mediation.

UNITE-HERE is planning a continuing campaign in support of Space Needle workers and other workers in the hospitality industry. This is sorely needed--Puget Sound Sage, a community-faith-labor coalition, issued a report on April 18 on hotel and restaurant workers in Seattle titled "Our Pain, Their Gain: The Hidden Costs of Profitability in Seattle Hotels." The report details how the benefits of the growth of the industry have gone to the bosses, not workers:

Our region's tourism industry is in revival since the recent economic downturn, and hotels are now reporting impressive and consistent rising profits...However, another disturbing picture is emerging of the industry's hidden costs to workers--poverty and pain...Heavier workloads and work at an unhealthy pace...low wages and sketchy health benefits.

The problems noted in the report are national in scope, and UNITE-HERE is organizing to address them around the country. There will be pickets, rallies and protests in many cities across the U.S. over the next few months as part of the Hotel Workers Rising campaign.