Park Central Hotel Teamsters come together to save jobs from elimination.

Most workers will agree that they have a much better idea about what goes into performing their jobs than their bosses and managers. Recently Park Central Hotel Teamsters were able to use their firsthand knowledge of the ins and out of their work to save jobs that the San Francisco hotel had slated for the chopping block.

Earlier this year, the hotel announced it planned to cut several Teamster jobs in the sales and catering department and disperse the duties amongst the remaining staff. However, Park Central Teamsters knew that it would be impossible complete the work with less staff, so their union representative, 856 President Mike Lagomarsino, filed a grievance and the team proceeded to build a strong case to stop the hotel’s plans.

During their investigation, the union team discovered that the hotel made its decision based on job descriptions in an outdated employee handbook. Armed with firsthand knowledge and raw data, Teamsters 856 members provided evidence demonstrating that they were doing way more than the descriptions let on, saving the jobs from elimination.

When, last fall, the hotel once more attempted to cut another 856 job – this time in the kitchen and banquet department – the 856 team again came together to prove that the position was necessary, prevailed at a board of adjustment, and stopped the job cut.

“This is a prime example of what we already know, our members actually doing the work have more insight of what their job entails how to make things run smoothly in their workplace,” said Lagomarsino. “I’m proud that our members banded together to maintain good union jobs in San Francisco and serve their customers,” he said.