The workers. On September 9, 2009, Quail Lodge issued WARN Act layoff notices to 199 of its employees, who faced the loss of their jobs on November 15, when the hotel portion of the Carmel Valley resort scheduled to close its doors. (1) The laid-off workers average 43 years of age (2), 7 years on the job (3), and the large majority are heads of households. (4) More than one-third of the workers are Latino, the largest ethnicity on the layoff list. (5) Quail Lodge announced that 131 workers were laid off. (6)
The workers’ families. These Quail Lodge workers have about 150 children and 100 spouses who live in Monterey County. (7) Loss of insurance for their families is one of the Quail Lodge workers’ greatest fears. (8)
The community. Direct loss of $1 million in public revenues per year. (9) Two-thirds of the job losses will hit residents of Seaside, Salinas, and Marina. (10)
The union. UNITE HERE Local 483, founded in 1937, represents more than 1,500 hospitality workers on the Monterey Bay.
The owner. Michael Kadoorie is the chair and majority stock holder of the Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels company, which owns the Quail Lodge, as well as 9 other luxury hotels around the world. (11) Kadoorie is the 124th richest man in the world with a $4.2 billion fortune, according to Forbes magazine. (12)
The conflict. The workers have not received a commitment from the Quail Lodge owner that they would be called back for their jobs should the hotel reopen. On October 13, 2009, The Monterey County Supervisors unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution calling on “Quail Lodge Ownership and Management to agree in writing to offer any new or reopened positions to laid-off employees who were formerly in those or similar positions by order of seniority.” (13) Within the next month, the Cities of Marina (November 3) and Seaside (November 5), as well as political and community groups such as The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Monterey Branch, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Monterey County, Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, Monterey County Democratic Central Committee, and Green Party Monterey County also passed fair job recall resolutions in support of Quail Lodge workers. These organizations represent tens of thousands of Monterey Bay area residents.
(4) July 31, 2009 Culinary Insurance records indicate that more than 59% of full-time union workers at Quail Lodge are parents of children. April 30, 2009 Culinary Insurance records indicated 81% of full-time union workers had dependents. A September-October 2009 Local 483 survey of 22 workers on the Quail Lodge layoff list who do not hold second jobs indicated that all classified themselves as heads of households.
(5) We estimate 37% of the 199 workers are Latino based upon surnames and familiarity with the workforce.
(7) Estimate based upon Local 483 study of the original 199-person layoff list, which estimated 222 children and 140 souses.
(8) Interviews and written surveys conducted between September 28, 2009 and October 2, 2009 by Local 483 staff found 59% feared losing health insurance for their families, the third highest response.
(9) Based upon the company’s reported 2007 and 2008 revenue, we estimate an annual loss of more than $600,000 in transient occupancy tax (TOT) and more than $500,000 in sales taxes. This does not include indirect losses for other business revenue connected to Quail Lodge hotel business.
(10) 111 of the 169 addresses we could find were in Seaside (40), Salinas (40), and Marina (31). Addresses for 169 of the 199 workers on the layoff list were found through various sources, including union records, Yellow Book Monterey Peninsula, and online sites.