Union Protests Douglas Emmett Annual Shareholder's Meeting in Santa Monica

Members of Local Union of Engineers 501 protested low wages outside the headquarters of Real Estate Investment Trust Douglas Emmett Corporation on Thursday Morning. As they protested, shareholders and officers conducted their annual corporate meetings.

None of the protestors would tell our reporter how much they were paid, and how much they wanted. They did say that they run the steam facilities for Douglas Emmett properties, including the Santa Monica Shores which has 200 units.

Officer Cortez told us that he came to watch the protest, because neighbors complained about the noise. "They were using a siren, which is a no no," he said, astride an SMPD Motorcycle.

One tenant of the brownstone office building complained that he and his co-workers were unable to get any work done with the noise of the 50 or so protestors. "Unless they exceed decibel limitations for noise, they are within their rights to protest," Cortez told him.

We called the company for comment, and we were told that anyone authorized to comment was at the shareholder meeting.

Douglas Emmett, Inc., a real estate investment trust, owns and operates office and multifamily properties in California and Hawaii. As of December 31, 2007, the company’s office portfolio consisted of 48 properties and multifamily portfolio consisted of 9 properties. Its properties are located in Brentwood, Olympic Corridor, Century City, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Westwood, Sherman Oaks/Encino, Warner Center/Woodland Hills, and Burbank submarkets of Los Angeles County, as well as in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The company is headquartered in Santa Monica. Douglas Emmett is publicly traded under stock ticker DEI, with a market capitalization of about $6.9 billion.