Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn employees rally for better pay, working conditions

About 250 people gathered at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn Feb. 9 to rally for a union at the luxury hotel in Boyes Hot Springs.

Inn employees, who were joined by Sonoma Valley residents, local clergy and other Sonoma County unions, asked for increased wages, more affordable health care and better working conditions.

Aesthetician Ale Santoyo said the Sonoma Mission Inn has cut jobs to save money, pushing their responsibilities onto the remaining employees.

“I’m standing in front of you all because of the housekeepers, the dishwashers, and everybody else who is not only overworked and underpaid, but also mistreated and disrespected,” Santoyo.

A news release from UNITE HERE Local 2, a Bay Area hospitality workers’ union, highlighted the discrepancy in pay between union and non-unionized employees in the Bay Area, saying, “housekeepers at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn make $21, compared to $28.10 at the Fairmont San Francisco.”

In addition, UNITE HERE Local 2 and legal representative Ivy Yan filed a case with the National Labor Relations Board alleging “threatening employees with adverse consequences for union activity,” “surveilling employees’ union activities,” among other allegations.

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn legal representation, San Francisco lawyer Hayden Pace, did not respond for comment by publication deadline.

Max Bell Alper of North Bay Jobs with Justice, which helps workers unionize and improve employment conditions, read from a letter the group delivered to the hotel’s management during Thursday’s demonstration, saying, “Employees find themselves overworked and underpaid, despite (Sonoma Mission Inn) demanding higher room rates.”

Hotel rates vary depending on the room type, day of the week and season, but a search of hotels.com for Saturday, Feb. 25, showed the Sonoma property with 4.5 star was $549, higher than the Fairmont’s Claremont Club in Berkeley at $419 (4.5 stars) and Nob Hill location at $357 (4.5 stars). But it was well below the 5-star Ghirardelli Square location at $1,145.

Inn employees have been gathering signatures for union authorization with the National Labor Relations Board, according to UNITE HERE spokesperson Ted Waechter.

“Sonoma Mission Inn employees are organizing a union and organizing against union busting,” Waechter said. “Employees have told me Sonoma Valley is starting to look like San Francisco as far as cost of living, but wages and healthcare are far inferior to union standards.”

At least 30% of workers must sign union authorization cards in order for the Labor Relations Board to conduct an election. Sonoma Mission Inn may also voluntarily recognize the union.

National Labor Relations Board case of Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn

Fairmont hotels in Ghirardelli Square, Nob Hill and Berkeley are each unionized, according to FairHotel.org, making the Sonoma Mission Inn the only location without a union in the Bay Area.

Michelle Heston, executive regional director of public relations of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, provided a statement to the Index-Tribune.

“Our team members are the most important asset we have, and we are proud of the positive, open and trusting relationship we have with them,” Heston wrote in an email. “Our top priority is to create a superior employee experience that enables, motivates and inspires our team to deliver the best possible guest experience.”

Sonoma Mission Inn was built in 1927 and has been managed by the Fairmont luxury hotel chain since 2002. The property has 228 rooms and more than 500 employees, according to a 2012 Press Democrat story.

The speakers of the self-described “vigil” outside the hotel’s entrance on Boyes Boulevard included Cleve Jones, an LGBTQ+ rights activist and writer.

“We got a fight on our hands and it’s not a fight we should have,” Jones said to the audience. “Our demands are humble, they are modest, they are very, very basic. We want enough money to live; to support our families; to care for our senior citizens, to raise our children.”

Jones described his 50 years of activism from organizing farm workers with Cesar Chavez in Arizona to marching with politician and activist Harvey Milk in San Francisco.

“All my life I’ve been marching, I’m tired. I don’t want to keep fighting,” he said. “But you have to fight! Because the things that matter the most are worth fighting for.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.