Features

After nine straight hours on her feet as an event usher, Carol Harris could sympathize with the workers she passed at 11:30 p.m. who were walking a 24-hour picket outside the Claremont Hotel at the end of August.  

That’s why Harris honked three short times in support as she headed up through the heavy traffic on Ashby Avenue, past the hotel and towards her Oakland home. The next thing she knew, Harris saw flashing lights. A Berkeley police officer pulled her over and issued a ticket for unreasonable use of her horn. 

“I could see if I laid on the horn for 50 years, but three short beeps?” said Harris, who thought about fighting the ticket but finally decided to pay it, but not before calling the Daily Planet to complain. Nonetheless, she is still wondering why she was pulled over for such a minor infraction. “I was so pissed off, just because I empathize with these people who are making slave wages, they must have really meant it if they were out there at 11 p.m.” 

According to Joe Oakies, the Public Information Officer for the Berkeley Police, Berkeley and Oakland officers responded to the picket after neighbors complained about the noise created by the picket, including the car horns. He said officers were in the area from around 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. and issued roughly 30 citations. 

The picket, which started on the night of Aug. 27 and lasted for the next 27 hours, was organized by the Oakland-based Hotel and Restaurant Employees (HERE) union local 2850. It was meant to commemorate the three-year anniversary of their boycott against the hotel which has refused to sign a union contract for spa workers and renew two existing contracts for other employees. 

Before the police showed up, some neighbors came down to the picket and respectfully asked the union to give them warning before scheduling another all-night picket, according to Claire Darby, an organizer with the union. 

“There were one or two that said ‘you are driving me crazy, please go away,’” she said. 

Before issuing the honking tickets, officers also forced the union to shut down their amplified sound in compliance with the sound permit issued by the Oakland city clerk. 

The union did so, but asked the officer’s to refrain from issuing tickets. They told officers that motorists would have no way to know they would violate the law by honking. Picketers tried to make a sign that told passersby not to honk, according to Darby, but they couldn’t find anything big enough to convey the message in the dark. They resorted to using hand gestures to deter people from honking but were not very successful. 

“I think there is a lot of support for Claremont workers in Berkeley and Oakland and you cannot shut it down,” said Darby. It was also ironic, said Darby, because one of the officers issuing citations was on a motorcycle that made noise every time the officer started it up to chase a car. 

“The motorcycle was making more noise that we were,” said Darby.ª