OAKLAND, CA— In what management terms a “necessary step,” the Claremont Resort & Spa here filed an unfair labor practice charge against Local 2850 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (H.E.R.E.). The filing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charges H.E.R.E. with deliberately stalling negotiations for a new contract covering food and beverage employees. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) legally requires both the employer and the labor union to engage in good faith collective bargaining. The April 5, 2002 filing asserts that the union has failed to bargain in good faith. “We have been bargaining in good faith for more than eight months now and its important to our employees that we reach an agreement in a reasonable period of time,” said Todd Shallan, vp/general manager of the Claremont Resort. Since February, the Claremont management has made repeated proposals to bring in a neutral mediator to help the parties reach an agreement, but the union rejected the offers. For more than three years the Claremont Resort & Spa had an agreement with H.E.R.E. Local 2850 to represent approximately 200 of the resorts F&B employees. The union canceled an extension of that contract on January 18, 2002 and the food and beverage employees have been working without a contract since that time.
