What if a Jewish event was held at a San Francisco hotel and nobody came?
That could happen, if the Progressive Jewish Alliance gets its way.
PJA, which brings a progressive Jewish voice to domestic issues, has circulated a letter that 40 rabbis — including some from the largest and most influential synagogues in the Bay Area — have signed onto. The letter states they will not attend any function at a hotel belonging to the San Francisco Multi-Employer Group because of an ongoing dispute with the hotels’ service workers.
Local 2 Unite Here, which represents the workers, and SFMEG, representing the 13 hotels being boycotted by union sympathizers, are still talking. Unresolved issues in the roughly yearlong dispute include health care, living wages, pensions and contracts.
A meeting between the union and SFMEG took place Monday, Nov. 14, at which the SFMEG offered a new proposal. “We remain committed to our employees and want to negotiate a contract that is good for everyone concerned,” said Steve Trent, spokesman for SFMEG.
While the Westin St. Francis is part of the SFMEG group, Local 2 ended its boycott of that hotel in September after its management signaled it would accept the demands of the workers — including a contract’s end date coinciding with that of other hotels nationally.
“I endorse the boycott of the Multi-Employer Group hotels,” says the letter signed by 40 rabbis covering all the movements. “I will not use any of the 13 hotels in this Multi-Employer Group until the boycott is over and there is a just settlement of the contract for both parties.”
The letter also quotes the Bible, saying, “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger.”
The rabbis who signed the letter join San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in supporting the workers and include Stephen Pearce of San Francisco’s Emanu-El, Janet Marder of Los Altos Hills’ Beth Am, Lavey Derby of Tiburon’s Kol Shofar, Alan Lew of San Francisco’s Makor Or, Larry Raphael of San Francisco’s Sherith Israel, Stacey Friedman of San Rafael’s Rodef Sholom, Yair Silverman of Berkeley’s Beth Israel and David Teitelbaum, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California.
On Thursday, Nov. 11, several members of PJA, including two rabbis, hand-delivered the letter to the general manager of the Hilton San Francisco.
PJA targeted the Hilton specifically because of an ad it placed in the Oct. 28 j. The ad showcased the Hilton San Francisco’s kosher kitchen, kosher china and chef with a Hebrew name, touting it as the ideal place for a Jewish wedding.
PJA requested a meeting with the Hilton’s general manager, Jon Mazzoni, to express concerns about that ad, which the group deemed offensive. PJA did not make clear to Hilton officials, however, that it planned to connect that complaint to the hotel’s general labor practices.
“The full meaning of ‘kosher’ is broader than the rules about the food and the kitchen,” explained Sherith Israel’s Assistant Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller, a PJA member, in handing the letter to Mazzoni. “In Judaism, ritual and ethical laws cannot be separated from each other. Colloquially, Jews use ‘kosher’ to mean ‘right.’ Fair treatment of workers is a key Jewish value.”
While a j. reporter and photographer were barred from entering last week’s meeting, PJA members who attended said they felt heard by Mazzoni because Jewish business is important to the hotel.
The PJA group also included its Bay Area program director, Abby Levine, several board members and Rabbi Scott Slarskey, an educator at the Jewish Community Center San Francisco, who brought his 5-month-old son, Hanan.
Some Jewish organizations say they must patronize the hotels because large venues with kosher capabilities are limited in San Francisco.