Hotel employees set stage for strike

Union workers at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa have approved a strike vote by a 93 percent margin.

The vast majority of the 250 or so union workers at the 555-room property voted on Wednesday in favor of authorizing a potential strike if needed to advance their position at the Kohala Coast hotel. The previous contract with Blackstone, the hotel’s owner, expired in June 2011.

Unionized hotel workers at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott, who have been organizing for months, want a contract that addresses their concerns over increased workloads, job combinations, fair wage increases and protection of health care benefits, said Cade Watanabe, spokesman for Unite Here Local 5, the hotel workers union.

"It’s been four years since workers have received any adjustment in their wages and benefits," Watanabe said. "We want to make sure that these Big Island workers don’t fall behind the hotel standard in Hawaii. They need jobs that allow them to have a good quality of life."

Marriott would not comment on the union’s actions.

The union vote, which came two months after the first contract rally in this cycle at the property, signifies overwhelming solidarity within the hotel’s rank and file, Watanabe said.

"We do what we have to do," he said. "We’ll be ready if we need to strike."

No new bargaining dates have been set between the hotel and workers since they met last month, Wata­nabe said. On Thursday, workers began making preparations for a potential strike by signing up for picket duty shifts, he said.

"We’re standing up to say we won’t take it anymore," said Steven Shimizu, who has worked in the food preparation department at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott for 31 years. "We want a fair contract with fair wages and benefits for the work that we do."

While Local 5 represents more than 10,500 workers throughout Hawaii who work in the hospitality, health care and food service industries, it only represents one other Hawaii island hotel, the Royal Kona Resort.

The union ratified a contract for approximately 500 union workers at Waikiki Beach Marriott in late 2011.