No talks scheduled in Hawaii Marriott hotel strike

Marriott hotel workers in Hawaii continued pounding drums and hollering chants as they entered day three of 24/7 picketing without an offer of new bargaining dates from Kyo-ya Hotels &Resorts.

Kyo-ya owns the Marriott-managed Sheraton Waikiki, The Royal Hawaiian, Westin Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and Sheraton Maui, where United Here Local 5 union workers began striking early Monday as contract negotiations, which started in June, reached an impasse. Kyo-ya said Monday that it was was committed to negotiating in good faith and hoped to resolve the situation in a timely manner. The company declined to comment on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Local 5, which represents the 2,700 striking workers, said no talks are scheduled, but the union is prepared for whatever lies ahead — even a lengthy labor dispute.

Local 5 spokeswoman Paola Rodelas said, “We’ve had five years of peace under our last contract, but we haven’t been sleeping. We are very well-positioned. We’ve been good over the years about collecting for a strike fund and we have enough money to handle a lengthy fight.”

Rodelas said Local 5 strikers who spend 30-hours a week on the picket lines are eligible for $300 per week in strike pay from the union.

The Local 5 workers say they want a greater share of visitor industry profits as Hawaii finishes what could be a seventh-consecutive year of record tourism arrivals and spending.

Rob Valera, who has worked at the Sheraton Waikiki for 19 years and is currently employed as an air conditioning and refrigerator maintenance worker, said “respect” is at the heart of his decision to support the strike.

“We’ve been working without a contract since July. We’ve had several negotiations and nothing has happened. We’re not even close to getting a fair contract with our employer. Living in Hawaii is expensive. They’ve done well over the last few years. We want our fair share,” Valera said.

Rodelas said Kyo-ya’s most recent offer didn’t come close to what workers are seeking — especially since it will be used to set the standard for contracts that are expiring at 20 Local 5 hotels this year. Local 5 won’t start bargaining with other hotel brands until it secures contracts with Kyo-ya and Marriott, she said.

Local 5’s past several contract negotiations focused on Hilton, formerly the largest hotel company employing union workers in Hawaii. But Marriott’s $13 billion dollar acquisition of Starwood Hotels &Resorts in 2016 put it on the radar for Unite Here, the national labor union that Local 5 falls under. Some 7,700 Marriott workers now are on strike in eight destinations nationwide including Hawaii.

The national union leaders say they are striking to protect jobs in an environment of increased automation, increase worker safety and get paid an adequate wage. Locally, the union has requested a contract that provides a $3-an-hour wage increase in the first year, Rodelas said. But Kyo-ya has only offered a 70-cent increase for both wages and benefits, she said.

Rodelas said the strike could expand to two more hotels.

Workers at the Sheraton Kauai Resort and the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort &Spa, which are operated by Marriott, not Kyo-ya, voted to authorize a strike. The 640-plus union workers at these properties “could walk out at any time,” Rodelas said.

Rodelas said the union and Marriott are “very far apart” on these two hotel contracts. Marriott only offered a 65-cent-an-hour increase to cover wages and benefits, she said.

Despite mounting tensions, members of Hawaii’s visitor industry are hopeful that the strike will end soon.

Regardless of its duration, history suggests that it’s bound to have some impact on the state’s tourist economy.

State tourism officials reported a nearly 3 percent drop in visitor arrivals in March 1990, when Local 5 workers went on a 22-day strike. A 10-week strike at neighbor island hotels by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union proved so challenging that Gov. John A. Burns reportedly called negotiators into his office twice to prod them into reaching an agreement.

Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Walt Flood urged Gov. David Ige to get involved in this latest strike, which he said could have a trickle-down impact on the economy for Waikiki and for the state.

Ige’s chief of staff, Mike McCartney, said, “Negotiated labor agreements are best achieved when the parties meet face to face to find common ground. Gov. Ige is monitoring the situation and encourages both parties to keep talking to each other at the bargaining table. He is standing by, ready to assist if necessary.”

The strike already is impacting satisfaction for visitors, who are complaining about reduced service, closures and long waits. Waikiki residents and visitors from non-striking hotels also are noticing more noise and street-crowding from the multiple picket sites.

Tsukasa Harufuku, president and CEO of JTB Hawaii Inc., which brought more than 1 million visitors to Hawaii in 2017, said, “Our customer service has taken lots of phone calls about the strike.”

Some cancellations will occur, but the larger worry is the impact on hotel pricing and forward bookings, said Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors LLC.

“Even if this ends soon, we’ll probably see a booking drop for the next 30 to 60 days. The last thing people want to do is go on vacation to a hotel where there is picketing and all the other things that go along with a strike,” Toy said.

To stimulate bookings, the Kyo-ya hotels, which are at the upper-end of the market, may drop prices, which Toy said also could put pressure on lower-tier properties to soften pricing.