The mayor's "unity" dinner tonight has spawned a union picket line and spurred gay-rights advocates to hold a competing dinner down the block.
The annual event is meant to wrap up diversity month in the city but comes on the heels of a bitter debate over a failed anti-discrimination proposal. This year it's being held at the Hilton Anchorage downtown, which is where the union's beef comes in.
Locked in a labor dispute with owners, Hilton workers in Anchorage voted in May to urge a boycott of the hotel. The statewide teachers union is on board, agreeing to cancel six events this year and next. The Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans canceled a banquet too.
The union of roughly 1,000 Anchorage hotel and restaurant workers this month asked new Mayor Dan Sullivan to move the dinner to another venue.
Sullivan declined, and the union, which is seeking a better offer on wages and benefits from the hotel's Kentucky-based owner, now plans to protest the event.
"The mayor is not honoring the wishes of the diverse workforce that works in this hotel," said Amarjeet Chhabra, spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 878. The union represents about 200 Hilton workers, she said.
Sullivan spokeswoman Sarah Erkmann said it would have been impossible to move the dinner on just days' notice. The city had booked the Hilton because other hotels like the Sheraton and Captain Cook weren't available, she said.
The National Education Association-Alaska voted Saturday to join the Hilton boycott, canceling its contract to hold meetings and training events at the hotel, said President Barb Angaiak. With 13,000 members, the teachers union is the largest in the state.
The NAACP and Alaska Nurses Association pulled events as well, according to the hotel workers' union.
Orlando Paraoan is president of the Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans. He has mixed feelings about the dinner, considering his group canceled a Saturday banquet at the Hilton to show support for the union and its Filipino workers -- but the federation's former president will be inside the hotel as a guest speaker.
'TRUE DIVERSITY DINNER'
John and Heather Aronno, married college students in their 20s, helped organize the evening's other protest.
The couple supported a proposal before the Assembly this summer that sought to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Sullivan vetoed the ordinance Aug. 17, saying he hadn't seen clear evidence that discrimination exists and that majority of people who contacted him opposed the change.
"As elected officials, we are charged with reflecting the will of the community in our decisions, particularly in the absence of compelling data that would supersede that will," Sullivan said in a written statement at the time.
That veto, combined with Sullivan changing the name of the annual "diversity" dinner to the "unity" dinner, prompted the Aronnos and fellow political bloggers to plan a dinner of their own.
"His claim for unity kind of seems like uniformity. And a lot of people in town are offended by that," John Aronno said.
The competing event, billed as the "True Diversity Dinner," will be held at the same time two blocks away at the Snow Goose Restaurant & Brewery.
Roughly 20 to 30 people affiliated with gay and lesbian groups canceled appearances at the mayor's dinner, said Erkmann, the city spokeswoman.
She said the name change was meant to emphasize the common bonds between Anchorage residents -- love of family, education and neighborhoods.
"We've celebrated all the things that make us different and unique, and at the end of the month we're going to celebrate things that bring us all together. Hence the term 'unity,' " Erkmann said.
Supporters of the competing "True Diversity Dinner" have also criticized the keynote speaker for the city dinner. Lynn Swann, a Hall of Fame NFL player and former Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, will headline the event after appearing at a fundraiser for the state Republican party, according to the party Web site.
Erkmann, the city spokeswoman, says Swann waived his speaking fee and that the state Republican party is paying for his visit.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com