Strike-ending deal means 5 hotels down, about 15 more to go

As striking hotel employees begin returning to work today at five Marriott-managed hotels, the focus shifts to about 15 other major Hawaii hotels where union members soon will be pushing for better wages and benefits.

A 51-day strike, involving 2,700 hotel workers, ended Tuesday evening with the ratification of a contract that gives union members up to $6.13 an hour in pay and benefit hikes over four years.

As is the pattern with hotel-union contract negotiations in Hawaii, once one major hotel group has agreed to wage and benefit increases, workers at other hotels will ask for a similar package.

The bargaining will begin soon at approximately 15 Hawaii properties, including Hilton Hawaiian Village and Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach, where Unite Here Local 5 represents more than 7,000 workers.

“They had better follow suit or we’ll have a fight,” said Local 5 Secretary Treasurer Eric Gill, speaking this summer at the start of union bargaining with Marriott.

“We don’t attempt to bargain simultaneously. We do pattern bargaining. We tackle the biggest one first and then tackle the rest to meet the standard,” Gill said at that time.

The contract agreed to on Tuesday was with Kyo-ya Hotels &Resorts, which owns the Marriott-­managed Sheraton Waikiki, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Westin Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and Sheraton Maui. That contract gives nontipped employees a $6.13 increase in wages and benefits over four years, $5.38 for tipped employees and $5.75 for bellmen. The average Local 5 housekeeper had been making $22.14 an hour. The contract also has protections against the loss of jobs due to technological advances, addresses safety issues and workload issues.

“Generally the first contract sets the tone,” said Keith Vieria, principal of KV &Associates, Hospitality Consulting, who was formerly involved in negotiations between Starwood hotels and Local 5. “We’ve already gone through a 51-day strike that’s hurt the industry in general. Nobody wants to go through that and end up in a similar place. I expect that we’re on our way to peace.”

Gill agreed with that sentiment Tuesday night, saying, “We’re very pleased with this settlement and we’re very pleased to make peace with our employer.”

“Now we can go back to making our successful hotels what they should be and getting our guests back and giving them the experience that they want,” Gill said.

In 2010 about 100 Local 5 demonstrators and their supporters were arrested during a sit-down in front of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach that disrupted traffic on Kalakaua Avenue in front of Waikiki Beach. The protest, which drew some 1,200 hotel workers and community members, targeted Hyatt because, according to the union, it was the only Waikiki hotel that did not begin new contract negotiations in sync with other properties.

Vieria said in his view the latest negotiations ended with Local 5, Kyo-ya and Marriott meeting each other half-way.

“There’s never a winner or a loser in a strike. The employees lost wages and the hotels have lost revenue. But overall, from what I can tell, the contract seems fair,” Vieira said.

Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors, said, hopefully the end of this strike brings another four years of labor peace.

“The strike was a little longer than I thought it would be and it did a little damage to the market,” Toy said. “It’s going to take a bit of time to recover. Hopefully as we head into the busy season there won’t be any follow-on strikes. I don’t know of any instances where that’s happened before in Hawaii.”

The bulk of Local 5 workers are expected to return to work today. Still,even if this strike isn’t followed by more labor unrest, there are still plenty of uncertainties to address before the visitor industry gets back to normal.

First, the five Kyo-ya properties will have to make plans to pare down their temporary workforce and resume operations of all of the services that they cut. Some of the affected hotels had been unable to provide housekeeping service or had reduced the frequency of room cleanings. The hotels had also closed restaurants and stopped offering room service.

Kyo-ya also must deal with the unfair labor practice charges that Local 5 filed with the National Labor Relations Board in connection with the strike. Five union workers — three at the Sheraton Maui and two at the Sheraton Waikiki — were banned for one year from the properties where they work. The hotels banned the employees for distributing leaflets to guests in the porte-cochere, which the union has maintained is a protected right.

The industry itself, which was affected by the negative publicity surrounding the strike, will have to work to bring booking pace and room rates back up to where they should be given Hawaii’s strong hotel occupancy.

Jack Richards, president and CEO for Pleasant Holidays, said, “We’re glad that the strike is over. It was long and it caused a lot of disruptions. Our customers definitely booked away from these hotels. We’ve asked Marriott to let us know when operations return to normal.”