Posted on 06/14/2007 3:24:20 PM PDT by SmithL
Company officials are also defending efforts to seek political help in the form of Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-San Diego, to request that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigate the immigration status of workers at the Woodfin in Emeryville and three other Emeryville hotels as well.
It's the latest chapter in a convoluted, long-running dispute between the hotel and labor activists who say the company shortchanged its housekeeping employees by refusing to pay them according to formulas outlined in Measure C, a living wage law drafted by labor and approved by voters in November 2005 that applies only to Emeryville's hospitality industry.
City officials said other hotels complied with the law but the Woodfin unsuccessfully challenged the law in court and withheld documentation to show whether it paid correct wages for the amount of hotel space housekeepers were required to clean on a daily basis.
In the past six months, Woodfin management twice attempted to fire workers who failed to correct Social Security numbers that did not match annual lists provided by the Social Security Administration. A state court judge blocked the first attempt by issuing a temporary restraining order. The workers were later fired in violation of city law that states a worker who has filed a complaint over wages cannot be fired or placed on leave during the investigation.
James Batt, Woodfin's president and chief operating officer, has said in the past the company had no choice but to release the workers because it violates federal immigration law to keep them on without proper work documents. He referred to widespread raids on companies found to employ illegal immigrants, including one in Southern California where the owner was led away in handcuffs.
Batt never mentioned that Woodfin CEO Samuel Hardage, who lives in Bilbray's district and is a regular contributor to Bilbray's campaigns, had asked the congressman to intervene, which Bilbray did in a Feb. 21 letter to Julie Meyers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bilbray spokesman Kurt Bardella said Wednesday that "from the Congressman's standpoint ... it's pretty fundamental." An employer knew illegal immigrants worked at his hotel, he wanted to comply with federal law, and he asked Bilbray -- the House Immigration Reform Caucus' chairman -- for help.
"To us, for us to hear about this and not do anything about it would be criminal," Bardella said.
Bardella said it doesn't matter that Hardage is a regular contributor to Bilbray's campaigns, or that Emeryville is about 430 miles away.
"Given the congressman's visibility on the issue of illegal immigration ... it's not surprising at all. We get phone calls every day from across the country," he said, noting Bilbray brought three other Emeryville hotels to ICE's attention in his Feb. 21 letter, not just Hardage's. "This is an issue the congressman is extremely passionate about."
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, issued a statement Wednesday saying her office "has worked closely with the workers who have been impacted by this labor dispute, and I am deeply concerned by the allegations that another member of Congress -- acting on behalf of a campaign contributor -- may have gotten a federal agency to intervene in that dispute in a way that hurts workers in my district."
Bardella said any member of Congress should respond to any American seeking to comply with the law. "It doesn't matter who does it or who gets the credit, it only matters that it gets done -- results are what counts."
Emeryville Councilman John Fricke, who tried to meet with someone from ICE's Oakland office on Wednesday, said it raises the question of why ICE was involved in an investigation where a labor dispute exists, and none could be clearer than the battle at the Woodfin in Emeryville, graced twice a week with noisy labor protesters outside.
According to the National Immigration Law Center, ICE's internal regulations require it to "avoid inappropriate work site interventions where it is known or reasonably suspected that a labor dispute is occurring and the intervention may, or may be sought so as to, interfere in the dispute."
Why is it wrong for legal US citizens to lobby elected officials for help in dealing with the messes caused by illegals? If illegals can have the best lobbyists in the world working for them, why too can we as legals not avail ourselves of government “service” in the same manner that they do?
That even makes sense to me... and I'm an idiot! If he gave money to Barbara Lee and asked her for help, I would be suspicious.
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