Opinion ID: 382660
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hyatt Regency Hotel Activities

Text: 8 The day before Vice President Mondale was to speak at the Hyatt Regency, Kevin Delany, ABC's Assistant Washington Bureau Chief and Director of Television News informed the hotel's banquet manager of the strike and discussed with her the separate entrance plan. The Hyatt designated a side entrance that led into the ballroom where the speech would be held as a reserved gate for ABC employees. Delany then informed the International of the arrangements, concluding that ABC expected any picketing would be confined to the ABC reserved gate. International President Lynch passed this information on to Local 31. 9 The following morning Delany and Hyatt's assistant banquet manager posted the entrance reserved for ABC. They also designated by posting as neutral entrances, barred to ABC personnel, the main hotel entrance on New Jersey Avenue and a nearby VIP entrance. There is no evidence that ABC personnel used any door but the reserved gate. 3 However, neither ABC nor the union policed the entrances. 10 ABC striking employees commenced picketing their reserved gate at approximately 11:00 or 11:15 that same morning. 4 One union member passed out handbills 5 in front of the neutral main entrance to the Hyatt to anyone entering the hotel. The handbill had been prepared by President Lynch of the International and given to Local 31 for distribution. Lynch's reasoning was that the handbills would counteract the fact that the reserved gate for ABC was away from the public eye. Neither the picket signs nor the handbills specifically addressed the speech being covered by ABC, and numerous functions were being held in the hotel. 11 Because of the union activity at the Hyatt, none of the CBS employees also present to cover the Mondale speech would enter the hotel, causing CBS to lose television and radio coverage of the event. Pursuant to a phone call from the hotel's banquet manager, ABC's Delany returned to the site and observed the handbilling at the main entrance. He entered the neutral main entrance to call his ABC superior, whereupon the union commenced picketing the main entrances in front of the hotel.B. Mayflower Hotel Activities 12 The circumstances of the union activity at this hotel were similar to those at the Hyatt. ABC decided to give television coverage to the speech Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams was scheduled to deliver at the Mayflower on June 16, 1977. Kevin Delany arranged with the hotel's Director of Security for the establishment of a reserved gate for exclusive use by ABC personnel. The Director of Security suggested a side entrance to the hotel that was also used as the entrance to the apartments in the hotel. They considered this entrance to be the least obstructive and obtrusive to Mayflower's operations. Delany again informed International's President Lynch, who explained the arrangements to Local 31. On the day of the speech, Delany and the Mayflower Director of Security posted the signs specifying the reserved gate, and then posted the neutral entrances at the main door and two other entrances. A number of entrances to the hotel were left unmarked. 13 Later that morning, ABC's Delany observed union members picketing in front of the hotel's main entrance, and in front of one of the unposted entrances, in addition to the ABC reserved gate. The signs were the same as those used in the Hyatt picketing. The evidence before the Administrative Law Judge at the Board hearing showed that the ABC employees used the reserved gate, along with other individuals. Once again, neither ABC nor the union policed the gates. One ABC employee testified that prior to the day presently in question he had used the main entrance on work assignments, and had never used the entrance presently posted as the reserved gate. C. International Inn Activities 14 ABC decided not to cover Senator Edward Kennedy's speech scheduled for June 16, 1977, so no notice about the event was sent to the International. Nonetheless, Local 31 picketed the hotel, which resulted in a CBS employee delaying his entrance into the hotel.