UNITE HERE Local 11: Investors and Stakeholders Should Question U.S. Expansion of China-based Han’s Laser Technology Group

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silicon Valley-based Hans Laser Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of China-based manufacturer Han's Laser Technology Group Co., which makes laser cutting and laser welding machinery, last year announced plans for a $60 million U.S. expansion. The firm has locations in San Jose, California and Katy, Texas and purchased 262 acres at 12429 W. Kimbro Road in the Austin suburb of Manor, Texas in April 2023.

In 2019, Han's Laser Technology Industry Group apologized for its Chairman Gao Yunfeng after he reportedly made inappropriate comments to a journalist during a CCTV state television interview. According to Hotel Inside, when asked about the mysterious Swiss research center the company is supposed to be building, Gao reportedly asked the journalist “How dare you spy on me?”

Yicai Global reported that it “visited the address of Han's Laser's research and development center in Engelberg, Switzerland on July 31, 2019, only to find that the hub -- which has been in the pipeline for nine years -- was merely a room of about 10 square meters. However, the firm's nearby hotel renovation project, part of the center's construction plans, was well underway.”

A Han’s Laser affiliate opened the renovated hotel in 2021, but it is unclear whether plans for the $159 million R&D Center ever materialized.

Further, the Doubletree Downtown Los Angeles hotel owned by Han’s Holding Group, an affiliate of Han’s Laser, faces an escalating labor dispute, strikes, picket lines and two federal unfair labor practice charges alleging discriminatory discipline of a union shop steward and unlawful requests for immigration documents. Thirty-four hotels have now reached tentative agreements with UNITE HERE Local 11 to resolve labor disputes, but the Doubletree has failed to do so.

Han’s Laser investors should carefully scrutinize any of the firm’s expansion plans, hold the firm accountable for its development timeline, and ensure that the firm builds relationships with labor, community and political stakeholders to avoid labor disputes and associated risks.

UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona that work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports