”We don’t get an annual raise, we have to pay for our health insurance, and we have no retirement. I’m not making enough to give my kids a better future,” said Trump employee Maria Jaramillo. The workers at the Trump International Hotel — more than 80 percent of whom are immigrants and more than 50 percent of whom are women — make $3 an hour less than most Las Vegas hotel employees.
The National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday night that Trump has been illegally refusing to bargain with the 500-odd employees at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. The workers officially unionized earlier this year.
The board ordered Trump to immediately recognized the workers’ union and begin bargaining a contract with them, and said he must post notices in the hotel itself admitting the violation.
Trump has fought his Vegas’ workers union every step of the way for the last two years.
“They intimidated us a lot,” Trump hotel housekeeper Marisela Olvera said. “They pressured us a lot [to vote no]. They told us that if we supported the union we’d lose our jobs, that the company would put our names on a blacklist and no other hotels in Las Vegas would hire us. They told us to think of what our children would do if we were out of work. Everyone was very stressed. People were afraid.”
Even after the union won their election, Trump refused to recognize the results. His company also illegally retaliated against two of the workers who led the organizing effort, by firing one and denying a promotion to another. He was forced to rehire the former and pay both back-wages, and pay a fine of more than $11,000.