‘Hawaii Five-O’ steady in ratings

"Hawaii Five-0" and "Castle" drew nearly the same amount of viewers Monday night with the ABC drama about a mystery novelist and a New York detective edging CBS Television’s modern take on the iconic crime series.

"Castle" drew an audience of 10.83 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings information released by CBS. "Five-0" drew 10.23 million viewers. The NBC show "Chase" drew 4.55 million viewers. "Five-0" has hovered at the 10 million viewer level for four weeks.

Kaiser and union OK tentative pact

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii and the union representing its nearly 1,800 workers have agreed to a tentative new three-year contract through June 2012.

Unite Here Local 5 members are scheduled to vote on the contract this week, the union said in a press release.

Details of the agreement were not disclosed, but the union said the contract includes stronger subcontracting language, maintains current health benefits and free retiree medical and creates a labor/management committee to resolve problems within departments.

Hyatt housekeepers file safety suit

Housekeepers at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa joined with their mainland counterparts to file the first multicity injury complaint against the hotel operator with the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In addition to Honolulu, complaints were filed by workers at a dozen Hyatt properties in San Antonio; Chicago; San Francisco; Santa Clara, Calif.; Los Angeles; Long Beach, Calif.; and Indianapolis. Those properties employ more than 3,500 workers, according to Unite Here Local 5, the hotel workers union.

Some Hyatt properties require room attendants to clean as many as 30 rooms a day, nearly double the industry standard, according to the union. Housekeeping duties include heavy lifting of beds, linens and other work that can strain the body.

The complaints recommend the hotels use fitted sheets to reduce the number of times that women must lift 100-plus pound mattresses; long-handled mops and dusters, so workers do not have to get down on their hands and knees to clean the floors or climb bathtubs to reach high surfaces; and what the union considers to be "reasonable" room quotas.

Hawaiian tops in punctuality again

Hawaiian Airlines was the nation’s top-ranked carrier for on-time performance and fewest flight cancellations in September, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Hawaiian had an industry-best 95.8 percent of its flights arrive as scheduled in September, along with an industry low of 2 cancellations out of 5,484 total flights during the month. In addition, Hawaiian ranked No. 1 for fewest oversales during the third quarter with no involuntary denied boardings of passengers.

ON THE MOVE

The Hawaii State Department of Health has named Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children as the Pediatric Specialty Resource Hospital for the Hawaii Statewide Trauma System. Pediatric general surgeon Dr. Devin Puapong has been appointed medical director for the Pediatric Trauma Program.

YWCA USA has named Gloria Lau as its interim chief executive officer. She has 30 years of experience in the nonprofit, finance and business sectors.

Watts Constructors has hired Brett Harrison as senior vice president. He has 27 years of project management, business operations and leadership experience in the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and Alaska.

Bowers + Kubota Consulting ranked No. 3 out of the top 35 national civil engineering firms to work for on the CE News 2010 Best Firms to Work For list. Bowers + Kubota is the only Hawaii-based firm to make this year’s list.