Annual Meeting
| ASA 2010 Annual Meeting and San Francisco Labor Negotiations | |
Please see communications below from the ASA's leadership regarding the labor issue at the ASA's 2010 Annual Meeting venue. This website will provide updates for those planning to attend the meeting. Please find a list of relevant links and materials at the bottom of this page. We welcome feedback regarding ASA's response at sanfrancisco@africanstudies.org Update: July 15, 2010 Communication from ASA Leadership Regarding labor issue at the ASA 2010 Annual Meeting Venue Dear ASA Members and Annual Meeting Participants: This is the second communication about the labor situation in San Francisco and how each member of ASA and meeting participant may be affected. Unite Here! Local 2, which is the union representing approximately 9,000 hotel service workers in the San Francisco area has been communicating directly with some ASA members. The message asks the recipient to boycott the Westin St. Francis Hotel, to encourage the ASA leadership to move to another venue, and to sign a petition in support of the hotel workers. During a recent conversation with the union, the ASA leadership agreed that it would distribute the following documents: Letter to ASA Membership from United Here Local 2 We want to assure you again, as we did in the letter of June 15, that the ASA staff thoroughly explored a variety of options, including moving to a different hotel in the San Francisco area as well as different cities in the area. The union offered to assist but has been unable to provide any viable hotel or conference venue alternatives that are available and not on the Unite Here! boycott list. The Board certainly would consider some modification of our meeting model. But at the minimum we require a venue that can offer sufficient rooms to accommodate 11 concurrent two hour academic sessions from 8am to 5pm Thursday to Sunday, as well as space for plenaries, book exhibit and video presentations together with staff support. This facility has to be convenient to a hotel or hotels with sufficient accommodation available. In our communication of June 15, we explained the financial cost to ASA if there is a decision to boycott the Westin Hotel. In good conscience, the Board of Directors felt it could not expose the ASA to the potentially severe financial repercussions of a boycott. We were gratified by the many thoughtful responses we received and continue to believe that, given the alternative, the decision to hold the Annual Meeting at the Hotel Westin St. Francis is in the best long term interests of ASA. It is important to understand that ASA could face a penalty that could well exceed $300,000 if the contract with the hotel is broken. Although the union claims that the ASA could avoid such a penalty, there is no evidence to support such a view. In fact, other academic organizations have been forced to pay such penalties with disastrous financial results. The ASA signed a contract and must assume that, if broken, the penalty will be levied. In addition there are very substantial costs associated with locating to a different venue and the likelihood of changing dates. For instance when changing venues was thoroughly explored this Spring, there were no available dates at any hotels in the area. In addition, due to the late date, the quoted rates for sleeping and meeting rooms, were at a premium in contrast to the lower contracted rates. The combination of the penalty and costs associated with relocation could easily equal the Association’s annual operating expenses of approximately $750,000. We recognize that the decision to attend the 53rd Annual ASA Meeting in San Francisco will present each of you with an important decision. Many of us have long histories of involvement with the labor movement and are very strong supporters of workers’ rights. Whether you have a connection to a union or not, we are confident that each of you believes in the importance of workers’ rights, fair labor practices, and the value of people to freely associate in order to effectively advocate for just causes. The ASA Board of Directors and the Secretariat are now considering how to exert pressure on the hotel to resume negotiations and quickly settle the dispute. We are developing contingency plans in the event there is a strike or protests during the ASA Annual Meeting. We will continue to communicate with the union as well as contacts at the Westin Hotel and we are monitoring the media in San Francisco in order to remain current. We are also communicating with other associations that have San Francisco meetings planned. You will all appreciate that we have limited resources available to us to undertake these tasks and we would like to ask any of you with thoughts on strategies on how we could proceed to get in contact with one of us. Meanwhile, planning for the 53rd ASA Annual Meeting is proceeding. The Program Committee has been reviewing the exciting proposal submissions and the Local Arrangements Committee has been working hard to ensure that every participant receives a warm welcome to San Francisco. The ASA leadership remains committed to providing members and all registrants for the Annual Meeting with information regarding the labor dispute. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Sincerely, Charles Ambler, ASA President Judith Byfield, ASA Vice President Karen Jenkins, ASA Executive Director
June 15, 2010 Dear ASA Members and Annual Meeting Participants: We are writing this letter to make you aware of the labor situation that currently exists involving most major hotels in San Francisco, including the Westin St. Francis, where the ASA Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place in November. The collective bargaining agreement between the hotels and Unite Here! Local 2, which represents approximately 9,000 area hotel service workers, expired last year. Although there have been sporadic labor actions, the employees are continuing to work under the terms of the previous contract. In March, Unite Here! contacted the ASA Acting Executive Director, Suzanne Baazet, and the ASA President, Charles Ambler, calling on the ASA to boycott the Westin St. Francis and move our meeting elsewhere. In response, the ASA President sent a letter to the Westin St. Francis expressing our serious concerns regarding the situation. At the same time, the Acting Executive Director and other ASA staff had discussions with Unite Here! regarding options for the ASA. In April, in conjunction with our Board meeting, the ASA President, Acting Executive Director, and in-coming Executive Director, Karen Jenkins, met with hotel representatives to once again express our concerns. In addition, the Board had extensive discussions regarding the situation and possible options. We agreed that it was especially important that members and Annual Meeting participants be provided with up-to-date information regarding the situation and a clear explanation for Board action. In recent years a number of academic associations have faced similar circumstances and several, including the American Anthropological Association and the Organization of American Historians, experienced severe financial repercussions as a consequence of relocation. The ASA Board, while strongly reaffirming our commitment to fair labor practices, has been guided foremost by our responsibility to protect the financial position of the Association and maintain our current financial stability. The ASA staff has thoroughly explored a variety of options, including shifting hotels and moving the meeting to a different city. There are, however, no other suitable hotels in San Francisco that are available and are not also on the Unite Here! boycott list. In addition, the ASA contract with the Westin St. Francis (like most such contracts) includes very substantial financial penalties for withdrawal from the contract. We estimate that the additional costs of moving the meeting would substantially exceed $300,000—compared to the Association’s annual operating expenses of approximately $750,000. In these circumstances Board members feel that it would be irresponsible to expose the Association to the severe financial hardship that would result from a decision to boycott the Westin St. Francis and move the Annual Meeting. At present, the hotel employees are continuing to work, and we hope that before the meeting in November the parties will reach a fair agreement. In the meantime, the ASA will continue to monitor the situation, stay in contact with union officials and explore our options. We will also be looking at ways that the ASA Board, members, and meeting registrants could express support for the hotel workers. We will also be in close contact with similarly affected organizations, including the National Communication Association. The Board will also investigate strategies for making fair labor practices an important consideration in decisions regarding the selection of annual meeting sites—decisions that are typically made five years in advance. We are very excited about the theme of this year’s meeting and the large number of proposals that have been received for panels and papers. We look forward to seeing you there. This letter will be posted on the ASA website and we will use that website to keep you up-dated on developments. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your concerns. Sincerely, Charles Ambler, ASA President Judith Byfield, ASA Vice President Karen Jenkins, ASA Executive Director Informational Links and Resources Unite Here! Local 2 Website
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