When 16 protesters sat down in Carmel’s Camino Real in October, waiting to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience, they hurt the feelings of former owner John Cope. He insists he made an effort to negotiate in good faith with workers as he closed a deal Nov. 1 to sell the hotel to Phoenix-based Classic Hotels & Resorts. 


“Usually the union gives you something,” Cope says. “But in this case, we were never able to settle because the union wasn’t willing to give anything [in exchange for a guarantee to keep their jobs].


“It actually hurt me personally because I’ve had a great relationship. It was unfair of [the union] to characterize us as not caring about our employees.” 


But on Dec. 16, Unite Here Local 483 filed unfair labor practice charges against Cope and his company, Nob Hill Properties, with the National Labor Relations Board. Union Coordinator Mark Weller says Cope withheld information and refused to meet with the union. He hopes the NLRB complaint will yield better severance terms.


The fallout of La Playa’s closure has created a stir in Carmel, where former employees have addressed the City Council at the past three public meetings. Their first outpouring came Nov. 1, the day the city’s Economic Advisory Committee recommended the City Council approve a tax incentive program encouraging hotels to do capital improvement projects of $12,500 or more. 


Spruced-up facilities would allow hotels to hike rates, and corresponding increases in tax revenues would be split 50-50 between the city and hotels. Carmel relies on a 10-percent transit occupancy tax for roughly a third of its revenue; the incentive is projected to hike revenues 24 percent over 10 years. 


But Carrie Theis, president of the Carmel Innkeepers Association and co-chair of the Economic Advisory Committee, says City Hall is an inappropriate venue for a labor discussion. La Playa is an outlier, she says, making it an inaccurate yardstick for other hotels. 


That’s partly because of its size – 100 rooms, compared to an average of 22 citywide – and because it’s one of only two unionized hotels in a city with 45 mom-and-pop operations. 


The union hopes to tweak the city’s incentive program to ensure workers are protected. Otherwise, Weller says, “The city’s paying [hotels] to dump people.” 


But Theis says it’s unlikely she’d ever do a large enough project to qualify for the tax-sharing benefit – or lay off workers – at her Hofsas House Hotel. “What we’re willing to put in there is a disclosure statement,” she says. “An inn that does major renovations cannot afford to shut down for the whole period.” 


Revisions to the tax incentive plan are expected within two months. Meanwhile, La Playa workers are hoping the new owner, Grossman Property Companies of Phoenix, will consider hiring them.