Trade Hotel Files for Union Election, Organizers Object

The Trade Hotel. Photo take May 13, 2023 by Jeramey Jannene.

North Central Group, the company that owns and operates the Trade Hotel has filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after service and hospitality workers demanded the company recognize their union.

On May 19, service and hospitality workers at the hotel delivered union authorization cards to NCG.

The cards represented a majority of the approximately 80 workers in the proposed bargaining unit, according to the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH), which also represents more than 1,000 workers at Fiserv Forum and the Pabst Theater Group venues.

The Trade Hotel, 420 W. Juneau Ave. is a four-star, 207-room hotel developed by NCG Hospitality on land leased from the Milwaukee Bucks organization in Deer District.

The union is seeking recognition under a new organizing framework established by the NLRB, which holds that employers must recognize a union once presented with a majority of employees have signed authorization cards or petition for an election. The new rules also establish that any unfair labor practices committed during the union election, if proven, will nullify the results and the employer will be required to recognize the union.

“We respect the rights of our team members to explore unionization and are committed to ensuring all are offered fair compensation, benefits, and treatment. Therefore, in response to the recent request for unionization at The Trade Milwaukee, we have filed a petition to go to election,” NCG Hospitality said in a statement to Urban Milwaukee. “We feel it is our due diligence as an employer of choice to ensure that every team member in the food & beverage and housekeeping departments at The Trade Milwaukee has the opportunity to express their views in an official manner on this important decision.”

Prior to the petition for election, MASH released statements opposing an election and demanding recognition, arguing that NLRB elections create a hostile dynamic between the union and management and give the company more time to interfere in the organizing process.

“We know that NLRB elections are uneven playing fields in favor of management,” said MASH President Peter Rickman.

What’s more, the union does not feel its rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) have been respected to date. On May 20, the union filed charges with the NLRB alleging unfair labor practices, including allegations that the company attempted to stifle organizing attempts by prohibiting discussion of unionization and removing pro-union materials and communications from around the workplace.

NLRB Investigating Unfair Labor Practice Charges

NLRB has begun investigating claims of unfair labor practices at The Trade Hotel, according to the union organizing service and hospitality workers there.

The Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Labor Organization (MASH) released a statement Thursday announcing the investigation had begun.

“Upon notice of the federal investigation by the NLRB, the Trade Hotel Workers Union (part of the Milwaukee Area Service & Hospitality Workers Union) responded to the inquiry, preparing a formal submission of over 65 pages of evidence and nearly twenty photos related to the charges of labor law violations, on May 30th,” MASH said in a statement Thursday.

Included in the evidence is a series of photos meant to support one of the charges, that union-related materials were removed from bulletin boards when other non-work materials were not.

The photos appear to show that when union organizers posted flyers for the nascent union, they were taken down. Photos offered as evidence by the union also appear to show that union materials were removed from both work and non-work-related bulletin boards. An image of a text message included in the union’s evidence appears to show a flyer was taken down the same day it was posted.

NCG disputes the claim. “Union materials were not removed from non-work related bulletin boards. Each of our hotels has a designated community bulletin board introduced and explained during team member orientation. The materials in question were moved to the community bulletin board where non-work related items go as explained during orientation.”

Local Elected Officials Back Union

Milwaukee-area elected officials serving in three different levels of government have sent letters to NCG Hospitality calling on the company to recognize the union.

Three letters have been sent. Each signed, respectively, by a majority of the Milwaukee Common Council, the Milwaukee County Board and the Milwaukee delegation to the state Legislature.

The Milwaukee delegation played a a key role in creating the Deer District development, they said in their letter, and that their support was based in part on “the expectation and promise that workers employed there would have union rights to majority sign-up, neutrality and non-interference, and first contract guarantees.”

All three letters noted the public investment and use of public land in the creation of Deer District. The state delegation said that without this public support, there would be no Deer District nor Trade Hotel.

“When Milwaukee County essentially gave away this land, we did so as an investment in our community,” county supervisors said in their letter. “We did not give it away to enrich developers, investors, or hoteliers but instead to create economic development for all of us – and that starts with good, union jobs for service sector workers in the hospitality industry.”

All three letters also suggested NCG Hospitality should take its lead from the Bucks organization which recognizes and bargains with the union representing Fiserv Forum workers — also organized by MASH.

“These workers have made their choice to form a union. Now, the choice is yours,” wrote members of the Milwaukee delegation. “We hope you will
choose to proceed without adversarial battles or anti-union antagonisms.”