Hotel workers’ contracts expire

Contracts for the bulk of the 6,500 hotel workers represented by Unite Here! Local 5 expired today.

About 300 of Local 5’s rank-and-file leaders held a statewide meeting yesterday in Honolulu to set bargaining goals in accord with the national Hotel Workers Rising movement. Union workers, whose contracts are expiring this year at hotels in nine U.S. cities, are working together to create more safe, family-sustaining jobs in the growing hospitality industry, said Cade Watanabe, a spokesman for Local 5.

The movement brings Honolulu support from other Unite Here bargaining units in San Francisco; Chicago; Los Angeles; Toronto; Minneapolis; Vancouver, B.C.; Monterey, Calif., and Washington, D.C.

"We are bargaining to secure good jobs in each of our cities," Watanabe said.

Contract talks between Local 5 and Hawaii’s hotel companies will begin next Wednesday at Hilton Hawaiian Village. The union will begin negotiations with Sheraton on July 16 with other properties to follow.

Bankoh expands investment options

Bank of Hawaii, the administrator for 12 Pacific Capital Funds, has liquidated six of those funds into outside funds and is transitioning four of the remaining funds into Scotland-based Aberdeen Asset Management in order to provide a broader array of investment options for bank clients.

The six funds that were liquidated last weekend are the high grade short/intermediate fixed income fund, the U.S. government short fixed income fund, the growth stock fund, the growth and income fund, the value fund and the mid-cap fund.

Funds that will be transitioned to Aberdeen after the market closes July 9 and renamed are the high grade core fixed income fund, new Asia growth fund, international stock fund and small-cap fund.

ON THE MOVE

Bill Thornton

Bill Thornton has been hired as general manager of Briant Construction, a mechanical, design/build contractor and project and construction management firm, that is a subsidiary of Kauai-based Aqua Engineers. Before joining Briant, he was construction manager and project director at Kitchell Contractors for nearly 10 years.

Aqua Hotels & Resorts has named Scott Pauli as area general manager with primary oversight of the Park Shore Waikiki. His experience includes assistant rooms executive, front of house director, director of housekeeping and front office manager for the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua as well as general manager of Maui Lu Resort in Kihei and corporate director of housekeeping, overseeing all of its Hawaii properties.