U., Faculty Club union make no progress in talks

The sides exchanged harsh words but will meet again next week. University officials met with representatives from Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 274 yesterday for the first time in over a month to negotiate the fate of the 35 current Faculty Club employees. But yesterday's meeting offered little progress, as both sides let the negotiations degenerate into little more than a series of accusations and insults. The union was represented by its president, vice president, business agent and attorney, as well as four current Faculty Club employees. University Associate General Counsel Eric Tilles and labor relations specialist Dennis Deegan attended the meeting on behalf of Penn. The dispute between the two parties arose last summer when University officials informed the union that the Faculty Club -- currently housed in Skinner Hall at 36th and Walnut streets -- will be operated by DoubleTree Hotels, a division of Promus Hotel Corporations, after it moves into the Inn at Penn this summer. Union leader Patrick Coughlan has yet to respond to an offer made by DoubleTree in late January that would guarantee employment for 70 percent of current full-time Faculty Club employees at the new facility. "Who chose 70 percent?" Coughlan demanded angrily of Tilles. "Did someone spin a wheel and land at 70? Was it Casino Night at the University?" University officials have said they cannot offer employment on DoubleTree's behalf nor can they negotiate for the new employer. Tilles said he was not present at the negotiations with DoubleTree and advised Coughlan to speak directly with hotel management. "For nine months I've been suggesting that you speak with DoubleTree," Tilles said. At the meeting, Coughlan compared the hotel's offer of employment to only 70 percent of workers to Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. "Who do we exclude?" he demanded. "The old? The young? The handicapped? Minorities?" Tilles followed by saying that Coughlan's questions were completely unreasonable. "You are so disconnected from reality," he told the union leader. In response to Coughlan's concern that certain groups of employees may be discriminated against, Tilles later said that "[the union] doesn't need promises that someone is going to obey the law." Interim Vice President for Business Services Marie Witt -- the University official responsible for contact with the hotel operator -- was not present at the meeting yesterday. "When I ask you questions, you don't know anything," said Coughlan, who demanded that the meeting break for five minutes while Tilles contacted Witt by telephone. "It's like they're playing a game," said Alan Jacques Hilaire, a chef at the Faculty Club for the past eight years. "If you're negotiating, you're supposed to come with all of your information? it's February now," he added quietly. "I've only got four more months [until the Faculty Club moves into the hotel]." Another point of contention at the bargaining table was Coughlan's complaint that the union has yet to receive any written guarantee that 70 percent of the workers will indeed be hired. "[The offer] absolutely exists, but it's not in writing yet and I'm not going to show you drafts," Tilles said, adding that a written offer should be received from DoubleTree before the end of the week. "We're supposed to rely on hearsay to guarantee the jobs of these workers?" Coughlan asked, adding that he can't make a decision based on an offer that is not guaranteed in writing. Tilles again urged union leaders to speak directly with the hotel, adding that "for the past 10 months [Coughlan] has played like an ostrich with his head in the sand." "You haven't done anything for your employees since July," he said. "They're not our employees -- they're yours," Coughlan snapped back in a remark typical of the meeting's semantic disagreements. The afternoon ended without resolution but with the agreement to meet next week when a written offer has been obtained from DoubleTree.

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