Coronavirus fears spur Hawaii hotel workers to wear masks on the job

With the threat of the coronavirus outbreak seemingly growing daily, the largest union representing hotel workers in the state is asking resort executives across the islands to allow their employees to wear surgical masks while on the job.

“We expect the hotels to cooperate with their workers who are concerned about their health and safety,” said Bryant de Venecia, communications organizer with UNITE HERE Local 5.

Union organizers are now contacting the hotels where the union’s 12,000 members are employed to ask for cooperation with any requests for mask wearing, de Venecia said. Local 5 represents the workers of a majority of the hotels in Waikiki.

While at least one employer from a different industry declined to let employees wear masks, de Venecia said he doesn’t expect much resistance from the hotel industry because there was widespread cooperation during previous health scares, including the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the H1N1 swine flu pandemic of 2009.

“But you never know. Some ownerships have changed over the last five years,” he said.

In the meantime, Hawaiian Airlines last week declined to let its flight attendants wear masks while on duty.

“It’s a real misstep and lost opportunity,” said Jaci-Ann Chung, Hawaiian Airlines executive council president of the Honolulu base of the Association of Flight Attendants.

Chung said flight attendants are especially concerned about flights to and from Japan and South Korea, where masks are widely accepted.

It’s frustrating when flight attendants walk through airports and see passengers and airport employees wearing masks and to know that their own employer doesn’t want them to have similar protection, she said.

“Our flight attendants are really concerned about that,” Chung said. “We don’t think it’s asking too much.”

United Airlines flight attendants are allowed to wear masks on flights to Hong Kong and Japan, she said.

Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said the company is in favor of any measures that are proven effective.

“Masks are not one of them,” he said.

In a statement, he said: “The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) only recommends the use of masks when assisting a passenger who may be showing symptoms of being ill. We always carry masks and gloves onboard our aircraft as part of our standard medical kits, which are reserved for use when warranted.”

No laws prevent employers from restricting mask wearing by their employees at the workplace, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The problem is that masks and the hazards they’re trying to prevent don’t meet the criteria necessary for regulations covering a safe work site, said Bill Kunstman, department spokesman.

“It’s very limited the circumstances where we could hold the employer responsible,” Kunstman said. “This is something by its nature that is uncontrollable.”