Union rallies in support of Aston employees

Unite Here Local 5, the union representing many Hawaii hotel workers, held a rally Wednesday outside the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

Aston workers are not represented by the union, and the rally was in support of winning union representation for Aston workers.

The Aston Waikiki Beach and the nearby Hotel Renew are both managed by Aston Hotels & Resorts and employ more than 180.

The rally was a follow-up to an earlier action this month in which 78 workers from the two hotels stopped work for an hour and presented a letter to their respective management asking for union representation.

The 645-room Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel was bought last year by Florida-based Inland American Lodging Group Inc. for about $183 million. The Aston Waikiki Beach has changed hands several times in the past decade. The hotel went through $30 million in renovations that were completed around 2002.