Recently laid-off landscapers from the Westin Resort are asking the National Labor Relations Board to decide if they were unfairly terminated.
The resort management had indicated its intention some weeks ago to contract an outside firm to care for the grounds. But union leader Tito Morales alleges that the landscapers were removed from their jobs because they were engaged in union organizing.
"Our position is that they terminated them because of their union activities," Morales, who heads the United Steelworkers of St. Thomas and St. John, said.
An administrator in the Westin executive offices said Wednesday that general manager Greg Lundberg was off-island and would not be back in his office until Friday.
Union officials say they have collected 200 signed union cards from Westin employees since January, and they credit some of the landscaping crew for leading the organizing effort. Morales also accused the Westin management of interfering with those efforts.
Anticipating the pre-announced layoffs, the union filed a complaint charging unfair labor practices with the NLRB on March 8. The Westin terminated 10 landscapers and a supervisor on March 17.
Morales said the issue before the labor board is whether the laid-off workers are protected as members of the Westin's bargaining unit. When an evaluation hearing was held March 29, he said, union organizers challenged the resort's contention that those workers should be excluded. The NLRB administrative hearing officer presiding over the case is expected to render a ruling by May 15. The parties have been ordered to submit legal briefs by April 14.
Morales said he will continue meeting with hotel employees who remain on the job.