In a partial victory for union activists, Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel hotel management on Monday announced that 77 workers placed on suspension after protesting working conditions will be reinstated after five days.

In a statement released late Monday, Airport Hilton General Manager Grant Coonley characterized the May 11 protest as an illegal job action that could have resulted in the workers being terminated.

“Because the Hilton LAX believed these employees were misled by the union, it was decided not to terminate their employment,” Coonley said in the statement.

Coonley said the five-day suspension period started May 12. Some of the workers placed on suspension could be back on the job later this week; the rest would be reinstated gradually after factoring in off-days and vacation days into their suspensions. The suspended employees will not be paid for the five days missed from work.

Union organizers, while disputing Coonley’s characterization of the May 11 protest, nonetheless welcomed the news that the suspended workers would not be fired.

“We are pleased that these workers who were participating in a legally sanctioned forum to express their concerns about working conditions will not be fired,” said Jessica Goodheart, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which has been helping Unite HERE in its campaign to organize workers in 13 hotels around Los Angeles International Airport.

This current dispute began May 10 after one employee was suspended for violating hotel policy. Several dozen employees then walked off their jobs to protest not only the suspension but what they contended are grueling working conditions at the hotel.

Unite HERE on Friday filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the hotel in connections with the suspensions. The workers, most of whom are immigrants, have been suspended without pay indefinitely.