Hilton Union Battle Stretches From Glendale to L.A.

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Everyone knows the Glendale Hilton is outside L.A. city limits. That didn’t stop Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla and Councilwoman Wendy Greuel from wading into a union organizing drive in the neighboring city.


Last week, both councilmembers sent representatives to show support for a Unite HERE Local 11 organizing campaign at the 351-room Glendale hotel.


Here’s the connection. Developers of a 1,100-room convention center hotel in downtown L.A. are seeking $177.5 million in public subsidies for the project, which would be managed by Hilton Hotels Corp. To get it built, they need support from L.A. City Council.


The union is using the downtown project as a lever to try to win concessions at Hilton’s Glendale property, and Padilla and Greuel, strong union supporters, are backing their cause.


“Alex Padilla understands how important a union job can be for a family,” said Bill Mabie, Padilla’s press deputy. “He was raised on a union paycheck and you tend to have an appreciation for that when it’s that close to home.”


Padilla’s father was a HERE Local 11 member when he was a cook at Du-par’s restaurant. Padilla also chairs a council committee responsible for approving the downtown Hilton’s subsidies. And he is hoping for union support in his run for state Senate.


Hilton spokeswoman Kathy Shepard refused to comment. Lew Wolff, one of the downtown Hilton’s developers, said without Hilton’s support, the convention center hotel project would wither.


Hilton is loaning $30 million to Wolff and Apollo Advisors LP to help offset the project’s projected $412 million cost. “If the community doesn’t want Hilton we don’t have a project,” Wolff said. “I hope they don’t scare away Hilton from wanting to be involved in the hotel.”

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