About six months ago, I first learned about the issues and concerns facing the workers at the Hilton/Double Tree Hotel. Since then I have had various conversations with other teachers and staff in our school district about this issue, As a community, we want the hotel management to remain neutral in the worker’s decision to unionize.

I have also met and spoken with several of the hotel workers. I have heard their concerns about working conditions and compensation that doesn’t allow them to provide for their own families. I have also heard about the hotel management’s negative response to attempts by workers to communicate these concerns. Frankly, I am appalled by and completely disagree with the tactics of pressure and deceit that the hotel is using against the workers, again, in their efforts to simply communicate their concerns.

These tactics bother me as a teacher because one of the things that I try to teach my students is the ability to think critically and independently. These skills are important for student success in my class as well as other classes at Santa Monica High School. It is my hope that the students will carry these skills into their adulthood and use them to live their lives with dignity and respect. Hopefully one day they will then pass on these same skills to their own children.

By suppressing the workers expression of their concerns, the voice of their own critical and independent thought, the hotel management’s actions work against what I am trying to accomplish in the classroom. As an educator, that is something that I cannot support.

In closing, I want to say that we are here this evening not only because we care about this issue, as it is an important community issue, but especially because it is an important school community issue. These workers are not merely employees of a hotel, but they are also alumni of our school district, they are parents of current students in our school district and of future students of our school district. And because of these reasons, we as a school community, as educational leaders, have the RESPONSIBILITY to know and to ensure that the practices of the Hilton/Double Tree hotel support our work, our vision and our goals for the students and the community that we are here to serve.

As a Santa Monica High School Associated Student Body student, I fully support the Doubletree Workers and hope my school board will do the same. During the summer of 2001, I was a volunteer in the Living Wage Campaign. The hotels put hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop their workers from getting decent pay for sustainability. The Hilton Doubletree spent $30,000. The hotels' campaign was dishonest and there was a lot of harassment towards the workers that still continues today. During the campaign, canvassers paid by the hotel lied to people in my neighborhood with false promises of a living wage for all of Santa Monica. [These canvassers were seeking signatures for petitions in support of a watered down living wage law.]

We're here to support the workers in getting better pay, health insurance, and better working conditions to provide better futures for their children. I'm here to support my classmates whose parents work at the Doubletree and don't have a living wage or health insurance because the Hilton Hotel used that money to fund a deceitful campaign that hurt their workers. I trust my school board will do what is best for it's students, parents and Doubletree workers.

Who is Richard Firth? That was the first question that came to me when I read his letter to the Santa Monica Daily Press. In his letter he states that I, "freely admit that the rally was for purely political/publicity purposes". He was obviously referring to the César E. Chavez celebration that was organized by the Samohi community on April 11, 2002. I find it interesting that the Santa Monica Daily Press sent a reporter to cover this historic event but did not report to the community what actually occurred.

Instead of reporting the news in an objective and professional manner, the Santa Monica Daily Press chose to print a letter that was obviously written by someone who did not attend the event. Richard Firth never heard me utter any word regarding the purpose of the event he labels "disturbing". I have been misquoted many times but I have never had anyone write a letter to a paper and say that I said something when I never even talked to that person. Although dismayed at the lies espoused by Mr. Firth, I am more concerned about the censorship by omission that this paper has practiced.

Why would Andrew H Fixmer attend an important and historic event, gather quotes from organizers and students, and never publish a word about the event? Why would this paper substitute an article on an interesting and newsworthy event with a letter that favors one side of the conflict at the Doubletree Hotel? I would hate to think that the full paper ad that was purchased by the management of the Doubletree Hotel against workers organizing was enough to guarantee the Daily Press’ loyalty?

Since I have the opportunity to get this letter published, I want to take a few more lines to report on the event of April 11th and counter the lies Mr. Firth made in his letter.

In 1991 César E. Chavez led a demonstration in front of the Loews Hotel In Santa Monica to protest the work conditions in California grape farms, mainly the use of deadly pesticides. Students, teachers and community leaders planned the event to celebrate the vision and values of César E. Chavez. As a former student body president and employee of Samohi I always work to provide meaningful opportunities for students to engage in activities that educate the heart and mind. Through two scheduled forums, students heard Dolores Huerta, a great American hero, discuss the importance of a workers union. Ms. Huerta talked to the students about the values of non-violence, compassion, unity, racial equality and social justice. All of those who heard her speech were invited to attend an after school march in support of workers at the Doubletree Hotel. By marching in support of workers at the Doubletree Hotel, students, teachers and community leaders were given an opportunity to live the vision of César E. Chavez and to practice their first amendment right in a peaceful demonstration. In essence, students were educated on how to be an American.

It is unacceptable for anyone to claim that administrators at Santa Monica High or any other adult involved in this event were acting irresponsibly. Many school district officials and other community leaders accompanied the students to insure that their safety was guaranteed. Each speaker before the march talked about the importance of non-violence and its practice. In a time of unprecedented violence in our schools, the value and practice of non-violence is desperately needed, regardless of how it manifests itself.

In his letter Mr. Firth claims, "Lets not kid ourselves, this was not just a football game or any other school event. This was clearly an organized labor rally and march with the potential for violent conflict." As a former co-captain of Samohi’s football team I would argue that more students are at risk of playing football than attending a well organized, peaceful march. The fact remains that there has never been any violence in student-led demonstrations in Santa Monica’s recent history. Many who attended the event on April 11th were more nervous about the more than 37 police officers in riot gear that were protecting the hotel on that day. By expecting violence when youth gather to exercise their rights as Americans we are sending the message that we do not trust them. As a result of the behavior of the Santa Monica Police Department, the Doubletree Hotel and the author of letters like the one I am responding to, the youth now know that they suffer from the same societal conditions that keep the workers from having dignity and respect in the workplace. In this new chapter the students taught the greatest lesson to those in power: injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. To be continued…

The City of Santa Monica is a magnet for tourists. The beach, coastal zone, businesses, and large hotels cater to the profitable tourism industry. However, Santa Monica is more than luxury hotels. It is also a community where a very large number of low-wage workers live and work. As a result, concerned citizens of the City of Santa Monica have united to ensure a living wage for the workers that uphold the tourism industry.

In 1997, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy provided funding for Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism (SMART). SMART is a coalition of progressive organizations, workers, business people, elected officials, and clergy created to help the working poor in Santa Monica who work in the tourism industry. Allied with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, SMART has fought for the passage of a living wage ordinance in Santa Monica and the unionization of employees of Coastal Zone hotels.

The current target of SMART’s unionizing efforts is Santa Monica’s Doubletree Hotel. The Doubletree does not pay its employees a living wage and its management is fighting workers who want to organize. According to Dereck Smith, labor organizer with SMART, people need to know about the working conditions and wages of Santa Monica’s workers. Workers have built the tourism industry and it is unconscionable that while companies get richer, they continue to pay substandard wages.

Students and educators in Santa Monica have expressed concerns with the exploitation of Doubletree workers. They also point out that Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District owns the land where the hotel sits. The hotel negotiated a long-term lease with the school district at a very low rent. If the school board had the ability to renegotiate the lease the payment for the land would be a lot more equitable. The renegotiation would lead to amazing consequences on the level of education for all schools in Santa Monica are in dire need of resources to remedy problems that have not been addressed for lack of money. While the hotel is profiting greatly, the students of the City of Santa Monica are subsidizing the Doubletree’s rent.

On March 20th, workers at the Doubletree joined students, teachers and members of the PTA before the school board to talk about the condition of the workers and the lease. On April 11, students organized a march in support of the unionizing efforts. Overall, a growing number of Santa Monica students, educators, and community members are voicing their disapproval of what is occurring inside the hotel and educating the rest of Santa Monica regarding the conditions of the lease. According to Dereck Smith, there is a strong feeling in Santa Monica that if you work in my city you are a part of my city. Thus, the community of Santa Monica is fighting to insure social and economic justice for the workers who are the true backbone of the tourist industry.