Union Workers Protest DC Trump Hotel’s Grand Opening

Union Protest Outside Trump Hotel (Ted Goodman/DCNF)

Ted Goodman Contributor
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Republican nominee Donald Trump was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday morning to officially open his new hotel on Pennsylvania Ave, less than a mile from the White House.

Unions organized a small group of protesters, who marched out in front of Trump’s new hotel, demanding that Trump sit down at the bargaining table with his Las Vegas Hotel workers.

The Daily Caller News Foundation spoke with organizers, who asserted that the protest was specifically related to Mr. Trump’s refusal to collectively bargain with employees at Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Hotel workers voted in December 238 to 209 to join the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165. Following the vote, hotel management filed at least 15 objections with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging union officials conducted intimidation and forgery.

The NLRB has denied or dismissed the objections, and hotel management has continued to push back against the December vote, asking the NLRB to review the case.

“There is an election that happened in 2015, that he has not respected. His workers in Las Vegas voted to form a union, and he has been delaying the process and has refused to come to the bargaining table to negotiate with them,” Carlos Jimenez, executive director of the Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, told TheDCNF.

Jimenez explained that his group (AFL-CIO) obtained the protest permit for the day, and that the purpose of the protest was to bring attention to the issue (Las Vegas workers vote) and that they want Trump to, “come back to the bargaining table.”

“He is tapping into a sentiment that the economy is not working for everybody, and I think that’s valid,” Jimenez conceded.

When asked about Clinton’s past support for NAFTA and TPP, Jimenez told TheDCNF that the solution is to “get involved,” seeming to dodge the question.

Jimenez stressed the point that the protest in front of Trump Hotel today was in support of the Las Vegas workers. “Our message today is for Trump to come back to the bargaining table with his workers in Las Vegas.” “We are not having a political message today”

“Until that contract is resolved there is not going to be much peace outside of his properties,” Jimenez vowed.

The protesters stuck around for more than an hour, while Trump remained indoors to officially christen  his new property, situated just blocks from the White House where he hopes to move come January 2017.

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