Unite Here Local 5 continues contentious bargaining season

Just when Hawaii thought its hotel labor issues were settled, protests have returned to Waikiki’s beaches and properties.

Unite Here Local 5, which settled a 51-day strike of 2,700 Marriott-Kyo-ya workers in November, continues to have a contentious bargaining season as evidenced by two labor actions Monday which both focused largely on timeshares, a growing union concern that wasn’t addressed in last year’s bargaining with Marriott and Kyo-ya.

As is the pattern with hotel-­union contract negotiations in Hawaii, once one major hotel group has agreed to wage and benefit increases, workers at other hotels will ask for a similar package. Following the strike, Local 5 settled with Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, the Sheraton Kauai and the Hilton Waikoloa Village. But it still has talks ongoing at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, The Modern Honolulu, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, Ala Moana Hotel, Turtle Bay Resort and several other smaller properties.

A major sticking point with the Hilton Hawaiian Village and The Modern Honolulu is that the union wants the contracts at these properties to address inequities in timeshare labor, said Local 5 Secretary-Treasurer Eric Gill.

“Timeshare is a scam. It’s bad for our state, it’s bad for workers and it’s bad for guests,” Gill said at the beachfront rally in front of the Hilton, where hundreds of red-shirted workers gathered Monday.

The contract expired in July for the Hilton Hawaiian Village, where workers voted to authorize a strike if talks don’t improve. The union, which represents some 1,800 Hilton workers, said it’s concerned with “poverty wages and workload issues” in Hilton’s timeshare towers. The union also wants “stronger language to protect jobs even with the implementation of automation and technological changes, and to disincentivize subcontracting.”

Paul Ades, senior vice president for labor relations at Hilton Worldwide, said Monday in a statement, “Hilton and UNITE HERE have made significant progress in negotiations at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We look forward to resuming bargaining next week and remain very confident that we soon will reach agreement on a new labor contract without a labor dispute.”

Union workers also were on the pool deck of The Modern Honolulu Monday protesting the impending layoff of 78 workers at the hotel, which was bought by Las Vegas-based Diamond Resorts in April 2018 for a reported $225 million. The union also objects to what it calls “negative timeshare practices” at the resort.

A spokesperson for Diamond Resorts confirmed Monday that the company plans to convert the property to a timeshare resort. The layoffs, which were expected to take place by month’s end, now are set for June 15, so that senior employees being laid off have a chance to bump recent hires and stay on with the company, the spokesperson said.

Modern workers joined Hilton workers at Local 5’s latest beach action, which came as Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Hawai‘i Convention Center host The Global Games, a three-day, 2,000- delegate event brought to Hawaii by CheerBrandz.

Bronwyn Camplin, a visitor from Melbourne, Australia, here for her daughter’s competition, said the union action that she witnessed on the beach fronting the Hilton was lower key than what she is used to seeing in Australia and wouldn’t prevent her from returning. “Unions will do what they do. They are there to make an impact and get people to be accountable,” Camplin said.

But these latest union actions bring back memories of the negative impact that last year’s strike had on vacationers and delegates for the American Dental Association (ADA), which was in town during the strike, said Jack Richards, president and CEO of travel wholesaler Pleasant Holidays.

“The ADA folks may never come back. Corporate convention business don’t want to deal with megaphones on the beach or lack of services like housekeeping,” Richards said.

Richards said Pleasant also got lots of complaints from leisure travelers during the strike, which “definitely impacted our business to Marriott during the first quarter.”

Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates Hospitality Consulting LLC, said Monday’s actions, like the strike, “hurt the Hawaii tourism brand.

“The governor and the mayor should step in here to encourage the hotels and unions to work it out. We don’t need people yelling on the beach,” Vieira said.