A consortium of building trade unions accused Gaylord Entertainment of reneging on a pledge that it would adhere to a project-labor agreement that would standardize wages on the company’s Chula Vista convention center project.
The company had heretofore garnered support from the labor community for to build on Chula Vista’s bay front.
But the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council said in a letter last week that Gaylord deceived the community by not following through on its promise to adhere to the project-labor agreement.
The labor group said that a letter Gaylord sent a week earlier to outline its plans for a pact was disingenuous and a “cynical publicity stunt, designed to mislead the community.” The project-labor agreement being pitched by Gaylord was a sham, the workers group said.
“Regrettably, misleading the community has become Gaylord’s standard practice,” wrote Tom Lemmon, head of the building trades council.
The letter also outlined other missteps by the company, such as this month’s announcement by the company that its facility would include more convention center space than the port and city of Chula Vista originally agreed to.
A Gaylord spokesman declined to comment on the issue Tuesday. But company executive Bennett Westbrook gave voiceofsandiego.org a hint about the company’s reluctance to include a project-labor agreement in its plans in March:
We’re unwilling to do anything that reduces competition for building the project because the project can’t afford it.