Eddie A. Perez
Mayor
PARTIES IN LABOR DISPUTE AGREE
TO MAYOR’S REQUEST FOR “COOLING OFF PERIOD”
---NEWS RELEASE---
(July 28, 2006)--- Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez announced today that the parties involved in the labor dispute at the Connecticut Convention Center and Marriott Hotel have agreed to his request for a “cooling off” period in the battle between labor and management over the unionization drive at the two facilities. The owners and managers of the hotel and convention center have agreed not to engage in anti-union activities and the unions SEIU Local 32 BJ and UNITE-HERE Local 217 have agreed to suspend their picketing and boycott of the two facilities. Additionally, the owners and management have expressed openness to sitting down with interested unions to discuss how to permanently resolve the issues at both facilities. The cooling off period will last until the Superior Court rules on whether or not the city’s Living Wage ordinance, which requires “labor peace” at the hotel, applies to the Marriott Hotel.
In a July 26th letter to the Waterford Group, Capital City Economic Development Authority, SEIU, UNITE-HERE and the AFL-CIO, Mayor Perez asked all parties involved in the dispute at the hotel and convention center to “stand down” from using increasingly aggressive tactics. These tactics have resulted in groups canceling events at the hotel and convention center and charges being brought by the National Labor Relations Board against management at the convention center.
“I am pleased that all parties to the dispute have accepted my invitation to deescalate the conflict at the hotel and convention center. This dispute was harming the long-term viability of the two publicly financed facilities and disrupting the lives of the employees at the two facilities. I believe this “cooling off” period will give all the parties the opportunity to sit down and resolve the dispute in a way that ensures that the facilities generate the intended economic benefit to the city and the state,” Mayor Perez stated.