[Linganth] AAA meetings move to Atlanta Dec 15-19

[monaghan at indiana.edu]

FYI--The AAA board's decision this year was to move to Atlanta, though they
warn about waiting until October 26 to do anything about changing reservations.

Leila
monaghan at indiana.edu


October 22, 2004

MEMORANDUM

To:        AAA members

From:        Liz Brumfiel, AAA President, and the AAA Executive Board

Subject: The 2004 Annual Meeting


In a teleconference held on October 21, 2004, the AAA Executive Board
voted to move the 2004 Annual Meeting from the San Francisco Hilton on
November 17-21 to the Atlanta Hilton, December 15-19, 2004, a change in
both venue and date.

Many of you are already aware that the San Francisco Hilton Hotel and
thirteen other hotels in San Francisco are in a labor contract standoff
with Local 2 of UNITE/HERE, the union representing cooks, dishwashers,
bellmen, servers, room cleaners and switchboard operators. Union members
struck the hotels several weeks ago and were subsequently locked out.
Picket lines are posted at the entrances to the Hilton, and it appears
likely that contract negotiations between the union and the
multi-employer group representing the 14 hotels will not be settled by
November 17, the time originally scheduled for the AAA's Annual Meeting.

On October 18, AAA's Executive Board held a teleconference meeting in
order to consider potential responses to the lockout situation. These
included moving our function space from the Hilton to other locations in
San Francisco and moving the meeting to other cities, including Orlando,
Atlanta, Chicago, Oakland, Philadelphia and San Jose. On October 19-20,
the Board conducted a poll in which AAA members who had pre-registered
for the meeting were asked to express their preference for what, at the
time, seemed to be the three most likely possibilities for the meeting:
staying at the San Francisco Hilton, moving the meeting to San Jose, or
canceling the meeting all together. A summary of the poll results is
provided in the table below.

Two factors weighed heavily in the Board's subsequent decision. The
first factor was the wishes of the AAA membership. Fifty-six percent of
those responding to the poll favored moving the meeting to San Jose or
canceling the meeting entirely as their first choice. Only 44% favored
holding the meeting in the San Francisco Hilton as a first choice.
Moreover, a great many respondents, including some who voted to keep the
convention at the Hilton, indicated that they would find it impossible
to cross picket lines and that they hoped that the AAA would not meet in
a hotel that was locking out unionized employees.

The second factor was the financial position of the AAA. While we could
not be sure that the San Francisco Hilton would recover the full amount,
breaking the contract with the San Francisco Hilton would expose the
Association to potential damages in excess of $1.2 million plus legal
fees. Losses of that magnitude would have meant a reduction in program
and services for AAA members, and/or the need for a special assessment
or voluntary contributions from AAA members.

In response to our informing the Hilton that many of our members would
boycott their hotel, the Hilton made us an offer: they would allow us to
move our meeting to the Atlanta Hilton this year without the threat of a
law suit, if we agreed to return to the San Francisco Hilton in 2006
(when we were scheduled to meet in Atlanta). In effect, the San
Francisco Hilton and the Atlanta Hilton would trade their years of AAA
meetings. However, the Atlanta Hilton was booked for our scheduled dates
of November 17-21. December 15-19 was the first open date that the Board
thought reasonable.

The Board realizes that this option is far from ideal. It entails
substantial expense and inconvenience for all our members. Many of you
have non-refundable tickets and will have to pay a $100 change fee. Some
of you have already paid for your hotel rooms in San Francisco. Some of
you will already have plans for the new dates. Still, this option allows
the AAA to avoid two very serious outcomes: asking our members to cross
picket lines and exposing the AAA to a $1.2 million suit by the Hilton.

The sad irony is that the Atlanta Hilton is a non-union hotel. The
unionization of the Atlanta Hilton will be a battle for another day. But
even the San Jose option would have meant signing a contract with the
local Hilton. A committee appointed by the Executive Board last spring
is developing a policy to favor living wage municipalities and unionized
hotels in choosing future meeting venues. We will also seek a strike
cancellation clause in future contracts with meeting hotels.

We deeply regret the cost and inconvenience of this change. We were
presented with a situation not of our making, with no good options. The
AAA staff moved very quickly to inform us of the situation as it arose
and to explore the several possibilities available to us. An additional
advantage of this move: it will be easier to orchestrate than the move
to San Jose, and it gives the AAA staff slightly more time to engineer
the move. The result should be an annual meeting that runs smoothly.

For changes and cancellations prior to 10/25/04, 5pm CST, please go
online, call, fax or write to San Francisco Housing Bureau. For changes
and cancellations after 10/25/04, contact your assigned hotel directly
beginning 11/01/04. Cancellations made after 10/25/04 are subject to a
$16.00 processing fee. Cancellations made less than 72 hours prior to
arrival will result in forfeiture of entire deposit.

San Francisco Housing Bureau

To call: 1-800-424-5256 or 847-940-2154 (outside U.S. & Canada) (Monday
- Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm CST)

To Fax:        1-800-424-5256 or 847-940-2386 (outside U.S. & Canada)

Internet:www.aaanet.org (available 24 hours a day & 7 days a week)

To Mail: San Francisco Housing Bureau, P. O. Box 825, 08 Wilmot Road,
4th Floor, Deerfield, IL 60015

Please delay making your hotel reservations in Atlanta until you get an
email message from AAA on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 for information on
contact information for the Atlanta housing bureau.
We appreciate the many thoughtful, heartfelt and constructive comments
and emails that we received in response to the poll. They shaped the
Board's thinking in a major way. We also wish to underscore our deep
appreciation for the considerable efforts of the AAA professional staff
in providing detailed information on the strike and on our options for
responding to it, as well as tackling the significant workload that
moving to another venue will entail.


Results of October 19-20, 2004 Meeting Participant Survey Attached.

-----------First---Second---Third
Cancel---742/30%---716/29%---1028/41%

Proceed in SF---1100/44%---340/14%---1046/42%

Move to SJ---586/24%---1060/43%---840/34%



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