(Honolulu Star-Advertiser) – By Allison Schaefers. Aina Iglesias, a guest service agent for DoubleTree by Hilton Alana, said the property will suspend operations Wednesday, leaving her and most of her coworkers temporarily unemployed for at least 60 days. The property’s occupancy was as low as 5% the other day, Iglesias said. “On one hand, we don’t want to catch the virus. But how will I pay my rent and utilities?” Iglesias said.
(KITV4) – By Annalise Burgos. Unite Here Local 5 Union is covering expenses for staffing the facility at a time when the hospitality industry is hurting. Other partners include Institute for Human Services and Hawaii Homeless Healthcare Hui.
(Honolulu Star-Advertiser) – By Dan Nakaso. Hotel workers from Unite Here! Local 5 went into the Kaamahu Place building Tuesday and Wednesday to clean up the 26 rooms that are capable of housing a total of 52 people and did other prep work like installing shower curtains, Manahan said.
(Hawaii News Now) – Eric Gill, treasurer of Unite HERE Local 5, said even when the threat of the virus has passed it’s unlikely tourism will rebound immediately. That means that those laid off could be without work for quite some time.
(Hawaii Public Radio) – By Ryan Finnerty. Restaurants were some of the first businesses to lay off workers. Carolyn Madrid Tagle was recently laid off from her job at a restaurant in the Honolulu airport. “Last week Thursday, they told us we were shutting down for 14 to15 days. Now they’re saying the end of April. So more, you starting thinking about survival,” Tagle said. Her husband worked at the same restaurant and also lost his job.
(KHON2) – By Max Rodriguez. The Unite Here Local 5 Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Eric Gill said his staff is working to relieve the amount of unemployment benefit applications the state is currently receiving. He said employers have yet to provide information on health insurance for his members.
“State government would have to provide funds for continuing medical, and it’s a huge amount of money and it’s money that needs to be paid every month,” Gill said. “And, as far as I know, no one has yet assured anyone from the state level that money will be received.”