Workers represented by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 142 have ratified their first contract with management at Pacific Beach Hotel, ending more than a decade of acrimonious legal battles that went nearly all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

About half of the hotel’s 300-member workforce voted on the new four-year contract, which was ratified Thursday, Wesley Furtado, ILWU International vice president-Hawaii, said Monday at a news conference. Only one voter cast a ballot against the contract, Furtado said.

"It’s been a long time since (workers) saw the end of the rainbow. We are taking small steps to a better life," said Alan Ah Yo, who has worked as a Pacific Beach bellman for 33 years and speculates that fear was behind the low voter turnout.

Furtado said that the new contract provides an opportunity for workers and the hotel, which since November has been operated by a new management company, Highgate Hotels LP, to move forward. Since ratification the union has taken steps to call off consumer boycotts of the HTH Corp.-owned property, he said.

Pacific Beach’s new General Manager Rob Robinson said obtaining a bargaining agreement and the lifting of the boycott is a win-win for workers and for the hotel.

"From a distraction standpoint, we wanted to put this long-standing struggle behind us so that we could move forward and take care of our associates," Robinson said.

Workers have gained validation and benefits, Ah Yo said.

"This was about respect and job security," he said.

While the new contract is about $3 per hour less than the hotel standard for union workers in Waikiki, Ah Yo and other union workers at the conference said that it’s a huge improvement.

Some key points of the new contract are:

» An immediate 5 percent raise and three smaller annual raises to total 13 percent over the life of the contract for nontipped workers.

» Tipped workers get smaller raises; however, they get time-and-a half vacation pay instead of straight time.

» All workers, including part time, will get full-paid medical including drug, vision and dental.

» Holidays meriting double-time pay will increase to eight per year from three.

» In the case of an involuntary layoff, the company will pay workers eight days of severance pay for every year of service.

» Grievance procedures will include third-party arbitration.

"For now it’s a good contract," Ah Yo said, adding that the new contract, on average, raises worker income by about $500 a month.

The signing of the first contract was especially poignant for Virginia Recaido and Ruben Bumanglag, activists, who lost their jobs twice during the lengthy contract fight.

After a two-year involuntary separation from the company, the two were reinstated to their jobs in 2010 by order of the National Labor Relations Board and the courts, which seemed to favor the union on many decisions. HTH took its battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined in March to hear the challenge.

"I feel so good right now," said Recaido, who has worked as a housekeeper at Pacific Beach for about 20 years.

"The main thing for me is the job security. I (wouldn’t) like these people who (are) coming to work again to suffer like I suffered."

Bumanglag, who works in maintenance at Pacific Beach, said he was the first worker to sign a union certification card. Lack of raises and other issues prompted him to seek union representation.

"I believe in workers’ rights," he said. "A company is not supposed to treat workers like that. I was there 16 years, and I only got two raises under HTH."

Despite losing and regaining his job twice, Bumanglag said the battle was worth it.

"Even though it’s been a long struggle and a lot of court fights, convincing some of the employees about the union finally pays off," he said.

While the contract is settled, ILWU still has legal issues to resolve with HTH. The company owes reinstated employees back pay, and the union its legal expenses, Furtado said.

"We are still trying to calculate how much they owe," he said.

Also, the union is negotiating job reinstatement for about 25 more workers, who were fired along with Recaido and Bumanglag, said Tracy Takano, ILWU international representative.

"We intend to comply with the NLRB ruling as it was written and pertains to the current organizational structure of the hotel," Robinson said.

As occupancy improves, Highgate will renovate, reposition and relaunch the property, he said.

"This contract is only one piece, " he said. "Our emphasis is on a new beginning for the hotel. Certainly that means good things for everyone — plenty of work for the workers and plenty of business for the hotel."