Hundreds of Unite Here Local 5 union workers rallied at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa on Tuesday to kick off what looks to be another contentious bargaining season.
Contracts at three-fourths of the 26 hotels statewide that Local 5 represents are expiring soon, with contracts for most of the big corporate hotels expiring Friday.
Local 5’s last wave of major bargaining was settled in November 2018 after a 51-day strike by 2,700 Marriott- Kyo-ya workers. As is the pattern with hotel-union contract negotiations in Hawaii, once one major hotel group has agreed to wage and benefit increases, typically workers at other hotels will ask for a similar package.
Since Hawaii’s larger hotels are often owned by real estate investment trusts and offshore owners, in recent years Local 5 has joined forces with Unite Here to bargain select issues with national chains.
Unite Here represents about 100,000 hotel workers across the U.S. and Canada. Some 10,500 Local 5 union members work at Hawaii hotels, down by about 1,000 from before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hawaii tourism took a huge hit during the early days of the pandemic. In May 2020, more than 9,000 Local 5 hotel workers were unemployed. It was a bleak time for union workers as well as their union. When workers aren’t getting paychecks, the union has less money going into its funds for health care, pension and other benefits.
Unite Here Local 5 Financial Secretary-Treasurer Eric Gill said that Hawaii’s hospitality industry still has not brought back all Local 5 union workers who were cut or furloughed from their jobs during the pandemic. In some instances, Gill said hotel workers have been returned to their jobs but are still working reduced hours.
“The recovery has been uneven and in some cases not complete in terms of the restoration of people’s work opportunity,” he said. “The biggest one is the elimination of daily room cleaning, which is about close to half the work performed by housekeepers.”
Gill said some hotels have taken advantage of the pandemic to increase their profitability by reducing services to the guests and consequently reducing work hours and payroll costs.
“Therefore they are making higher profit at the expense of both the guests who are receiving less while paying more, and Hawaii, which receives less in terms of total compensation from the industry in the form of wages and benefits paid to Hawaii’s people,” he said.
It has been widely reported that Hilton was eliminating daily housekeeping at most of its properties in the Americas. Hilton’s corporate website currently says: “Guests visiting our hotels in some regions, as well as guests at all Waldorf Astoria, LXR and Conrad hotels, will receive daily housekeeping. In the Americas, most properties have implemented a flexible housekeeping policy with daily services available upon request.”
A Hilton spokesperson said, “Hilton maintains a cooperative and productive relationship with Unite Here Local 5, and we are confident that we will reach a fair and reasonable agreement that is beneficial to both our valued team members and to our hotel.”
Susan Galicha, who has worked as a Hilton Hawaiian Village housekeeper for 16 years, was among the workers rallying in front of the property Tuesday.
Galicha said she hopes the next Hilton contract leads to better working conditions. She said Hilton’s stance on daily housekeeping has made the job much more difficult. She said housekeepers still are required to clean 14 rooms a day, even though the rooms take far longer to service since they aren’t cleaned until guests check out.
Galicha said the drop in service at Hawaii hotels, where room rates have soared, will ultimately hurt the Hawaii brand.
“One guest said, ‘We’ve been calling housekeeping and they never give us service.’ I gave her towels and amenities and she asked to borrow a broom. I was ashamed. I’m asking myself is this the top brand hotel where a hotel guest is cleaning their room?”
In addition to the housekeeping reductions, Gill said many Hawaii hotels have yet to bring back valet workers or fully open all food and beverage outlets. He said there are long waits at some Hawaii hotels for traditional front desk check-ins but noted that more properties have begun to use technology to allow guests to bypass the front desk.
Gill said the remote check-in trend raises safety concerns for workers and other guests. He also is concerned about general automation trends.
Local 5 union worker Rodney Nakashima, who has worked as a groundskeeper for the Sheraton Waikiki for 17 years, said he was at the rally to ensure there are still “good hotel jobs” for future Hawaii generations.
Nakashima, who was part of the 2018 strike, said the last contract was mostly about wages and benefits and job protections. He said the pandemic revealed that work conditions and guest standards also need attention.
“They need to bring back all the workers, all the hours and all the services,” he said. “Hawaii won’t be able to compete with other destinations if they don’t.”
