photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn employee
Tony Arguello holds the works petition
calling for a fair union election at a
meeting on Friday, September 8th.

Some are calling this 2023 season another “hot labor summer," with a lot of job-related unrest and actions around the nation. One current unionization effort is at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn in Sonoma.

Mission Inn employees attempting to form a union are pushing for a fair election, free from what workers like Tony Arguello call “threats, coercion, and intimidation.”

“This petition is basically a showing of support from a number of employees at the hotel that voiced their support; [and] would like to bring the union here to this hotel,” Arguello told KRCB News at a September 8th rally and meeting at the hotel.

Arguello is a banquet bar captain at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and one of the leaders of the union drive.

It’s not just employees at the hotel calling for a fair process either.

Local faith leaders, elected officials, and labor representatives joined the chorus of support. Local retired clergyman Father Norman Cram spoke to the crowd.

“I'm here to carry out my baptismal vows which are reflected in the Christian Bible, to support the dignity of all of God's wage earners,” Cram said.

So too the mayor of Sonoma, Sandra Lowe.

“I want the hotel to succeed,” Lowe said. “I want the workers to succeed. My pledge is to help you work together for an agreement and a fair process.”

Teamsters 665 member Tom Woods also lent support.

“[I] want you guys to know that we're supporting you,” Woods said. “We're watching this very closely. If you guys get to a situation where you need to demonstrate the strength of labor, you need to call on the Teamsters, we'll be right there with you.”

The fair process petition - signed by 133 hotel employees - and a letter of support from Sonoma Valley Interfaith religious leaders were delivered in the form of oversized posters to the hotel’s general manager, Edward Roe.

“I acknowledge I've received these,” Roe said in response. “I acknowledge that I need to study it and understand, and we certainly do support the fair democratic process of all our colleagues.”

Arguello and fellow worker-organizer Ale Santoyo say their efforts are about helping the nearly 300 families supported by hotel employees remain safe and secure in the Sonoma Valley community.

“This is not personal,” Arguello said. “This is just about our livelihood, about getting better pay, better benefits, and really just fair working conditions. Of course, this hotel wants the reputation to be good in the valley, and all of us as workers want that same thing, so hopefully they'll just recognize that getting through this as quickly as possible and letting us unionize sitting down at the bargaining table is in everybody's best interest.”

“We don't want to damage the reputation of the hotel,” Santoyo said. “We love the hotel. We work for the hotel. We need the business, but we also deserve better.”