Holiday Labor Pain </CENTER> <DD>Not since 1969 has Inauguration Day, Jan.20, fallen on the third Monday of the month, and that was long before Congress declared the third Monday in January a holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And after this year, the King holiday and the quadrennial swearing-in of the president won't coincide un- til 2025. <DD> But that's of little concern to John Boardman and Emily Vetter. They're focused on next Monday, when the two celebration will bump shoulders for the first time. Specifically, they're at odds over how much extra pay the city's unionized hotel workers ought to get. <DD>"I would characterize it as more than a disagreement at this point," said Boardman, secretary-treasurer of Local 25 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union. "We're right in the middle of a war," he said, and he threatened an unspecified labor action on Inauguration Day if the dispute isn't resolved by then. <DD>Vetter, president d the Hotel Association of Washington, agrees with Boardman on this much: The union's contract calls for members to get double-time pay if they work on Inauguration Day--and virtually all of them will be working. And the pact specifies straight-time pay, plus an extra eight hours pay, for employees working on the King Holiday. <DD>But, contractually speaking, what is next Monday? Is it Inauguration Day! Martin Luther King Day!? Or a combination? The union's position is that it's a combination, and Boardman contends that the 5,500 members of Local 25 who are employed by Washington's 24 union hotels-including many of the city's biggest--ought to get double-time pay (for the inauguration) plus eight hours of bonus pay (for the holiday). <DD>"Not only do we want both things, this was specifically negotiated during contract talks in 1995 in anticipation of next week's inauguration, Boardman said. But the contract language is unclear on the issue. <DD>Vetter replied that the union wants "a pyramiding of benefits" and that the association agreed to no such thing in the contract. She contends that workers are entitled to double-time pay next Monday and nothing more. <DD>How will Local 25 respond? "Oh, we're very creative," Boardman said.'We're going to let the public know, right in the middle of the inauguration, that we're very upset about having this holiday stolen... Our contract precludes a strike. It precludes picketing. But there's a lot of room between that and what we're capable of coming up with." <CENTER><TITLE>A Room With A Long View </CENTER> <DD>Speaking of Hotels, Elizabeth and Wally Moore are booked at the Hotel Washington next weekend. But that's not surprising. Ex- cept for Jan. 20, 1961, when her husband had to work and she sta yed home, Elizabeth Moore has watched every inaugural parade, from one hotel balcony or another, since Franklin D. Roosevelt's second investiture in 1937. <DD>"It's lively, it's fun. Everybody's excited--the young people in all the bands. it's just a happy, historical time, and I guess I just like to be part of it," said Moore, a Washington native who lives in Bethesda. <DD>You'll have to guess her age, because she won't disclose it. But in '37, she was a child. Her father took a room at the Willard Hotel. "I remember there was a little balcony with wrought iron, and I remember it was so cold. I sat out there freezing, all bundled up in a lap robe." <DD> A tradition was born. For Harry S. Truman's 1949 parade (or maybe it was Dwight D. Eisenhower's in 53), her father moved from the Willard to the grand old Raleigh Hotel, at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Wally Moore, an auto parts distributor whom she married in '53 was on hand at the Raleigh in '57, and after the Raleigh was demolished in '64, the couple moved to the Hotel Washington, at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. <DD>Moore can't recall an inaugural parade she didn't enjoy. "I'd say for us--we're Republicans--Ronald Reagan"s first was our favorite." The 52 hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran were freed that day. "It was so exciting," she said. I remember they had a dog sled team from Alaska in the parade, and they had yellow ribbons on all the dogs." <DD>The Gipper's second parade, in '85, was canceled because of frigid weather--and just as well. The Moores were out of town that day, attending the Super Bowl in Palo Alto, Calif.</BODY> <HR><TITLE>Paul Duggan

Washington Post JANUARY 13,1997

Inaugural Notebook
Counting Down the Week-One Bray at a Time

The week begins--countdown to Inauguration Day--and everybody wants to get in on the act.. .

From the Mayflower Hotel: "IRENE, OFFICIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY MASCOT, TO HOST JANUARY 17TH PRESS CONFERENCE AT HISTORIC RENAISSANCE MAYFLOWER HOTEL." This being Washington, of course, it's possible that Irene, an actual donkey, -will merely issue a statement and decline to answer questions.

"Irene has also had the distinction of being formally invited to the White House for tea with Mrs. Clinton in the Rose Garden."
'Nuff said.
The week begins . . .

Holiday Labor Pain </CENTER> <DD>Not since 1969 has Inauguration Day, Jan.20, fallen on the third Monday of the month, and that was long before Congress declared the third Monday in January a holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And after this year, the King holiday and the quadrennial swearing-in of the president won't coincide un- til 2025. <DD> But that's of little concern to John Boardman and Emily Vetter. They're focused on next Monday, when the two celebration will bump shoulders for the first time. Specifically, they're at odds over how much extra pay the city's unionized hotel workers ought to get. <DD>"I would characterize it as more than a disagreement at this point," said Boardman, secretary-treasurer of Local 25 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union. "We're right in the middle of a war," he said, and he threatened an unspecified labor action on Inauguration Day if the dispute isn't resolved by then. <DD>Vetter, president d the Hotel Association of Washington, agrees with Boardman on this much: The union's contract calls for members to get double-time pay if they work on Inauguration Day--and virtually all of them will be working. And the pact specifies straight-time pay, plus an extra eight hours pay, for employees working on the King Holiday. <DD>But, contractually speaking, what is next Monday? Is it Inauguration Day! Martin Luther King Day!? Or a combination? The union's position is that it's a combination, and Boardman contends that the 5,500 members of Local 25 who are employed by Washington's 24 union hotels-including many of the city's biggest--ought to get double-time pay (for the inauguration) plus eight hours of bonus pay (for the holiday). <DD>"Not only do we want both things, this was specifically negotiated during contract talks in 1995 in anticipation of next week's inauguration, Boardman said. But the contract language is unclear on the issue. <DD>Vetter replied that the union wants "a pyramiding of benefits" and that the association agreed to no such thing in the contract. She contends that workers are entitled to double-time pay next Monday and nothing more. <DD>How will Local 25 respond? "Oh, we're very creative," Boardman said.'We're going to let the public know, right in the middle of the inauguration, that we're very upset about having this holiday stolen... Our contract precludes a strike. It precludes picketing. But there's a lot of room between that and what we're capable of coming up with." <CENTER><TITLE>A Room With A Long View </CENTER> <DD>Speaking of Hotels, Elizabeth and Wally Moore are booked at the Hotel Washington next weekend. But that's not surprising. Ex- cept for Jan. 20, 1961, when her husband had to work and she sta yed home, Elizabeth Moore has watched every inaugural parade, from one hotel balcony or another, since Franklin D. Roosevelt's second investiture in 1937. <DD>"It's lively, it's fun. Everybody's excited--the young people in all the bands. it's just a happy, historical time, and I guess I just like to be part of it," said Moore, a Washington native who lives in Bethesda. <DD>You'll have to guess her age, because she won't disclose it. But in '37, she was a child. Her father took a room at the Willard Hotel. "I remember there was a little balcony with wrought iron, and I remember it was so cold. I sat out there freezing, all bundled up in a lap robe." <DD> A tradition was born. For Harry S. Truman's 1949 parade (or maybe it was Dwight D. Eisenhower's in 53), her father moved from the Willard to the grand old Raleigh Hotel, at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Wally Moore, an auto parts distributor whom she married in '53 was on hand at the Raleigh in '57, and after the Raleigh was demolished in '64, the couple moved to the Hotel Washington, at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. <DD>Moore can't recall an inaugural parade she didn't enjoy. "I'd say for us--we're Republicans--Ronald Reagan"s first was our favorite." The 52 hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran were freed that day. "It was so exciting," she said. I remember they had a dog sled team from Alaska in the parade, and they had yellow ribbons on all the dogs." <DD>The Gipper's second parade, in '85, was canceled because of frigid weather--and just as well. The Moores were out of town that day, attending the Super Bowl in Palo Alto, Calif.</BODY> <HR><TITLE>Paul Duggan

1997 Inaugural | Park Closures | Pennsylvania Ave. Closure
Peace Park | Proposition One | Information Center

Inaugural Notebook Counting Down the Week-One Bray at a Time

Inaugural Notebook
Counting Down the Week-One Bray at a Time