Ridpath Employees Must Reapply For Jobs New Owners Say They Have No Plans To Bust Unions

Workers at the Ridpath Hotel will be reapplying for their jobs next week as the owner of the downtown restaurant and lodge prepares to sell it.

The new owners and union officials who represent the workers describe that process as standard when a large business changes hands. They will fill out applications, be interviewed and take drug tests.

The hotel’s current owner, Dunson Ridpath Hotel Associates Limited Partnership, has notified state and city officials that “the layoffs will be permanent.”

But John Workland, Eastern Washington coordinator for the hotel and restaurant employees union, said that’s standard language for a notice required by federal law.

The Worker’s Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires a large employer to warn local officials of plans to lay off a significant number of workers.

The layoffs are permanent as far as Dunson is concerned, he said, even if the workers are rehired by the new owners, Cavanaughs Hospitality Corp.

“I would assume the majority of employees will be hired back,” said John Taffin, vice president of hotel operations for Cavanaughs. “We don’t plan on bringing in a whole new crew.”

Most workers will be interviewed next week, and all should know whether they’ve been rehired by Christmas, he said.

“We don’t want to disrupt their holidays,” Taffin said.

If a majority of the workers are rehired, unions that now represent them will negotiate new contracts with Cavanaughs. The chain operates other hotels in Spokane, but none of them is unionized.

Cavanaughs will sit down with the unions after the staffing decisions are complete if a majority of the employees are union members, Taffin said.

“We don’t plan on going in and busting the unions,” he said.

Being one of only two union hotels in Spokane - the downtown Doubletree is the other - has financial benefits for the Ridpath, labor officials said. Switching to a nonunion operation could have significant costs.

The Washington State Labor Council, the umbrella organization for unions statewide, is scheduled to hold its five-day annual convention at the Ridpath next August. But those 500 delegates and guests won’t come to Spokane if the hotel goes nonunion, said Al Link, council secretary-treasurer.

“I’ve already put a hold on space in the event that happens,” Link said. “I’d have to move it out of Spokane.”

The local and state Democratic Party might also stop using the hotel for their meetings and political events.

Taffin said Cavanaughs is aware of the Ridpath’s role in attracting labor and Democratic functions to Spokane.

“We think it’s important to maintain that relationship,” he said.

, DataTimes