Archive for category: Updates

UNITE HERE! Local 5
For immediate release: February 15, 2019

Media Contact:
Paola Rodelas
Cell Phone: (808) 333-4782
[email protected]

Sheraton Kauai workers ratify union contract

This is the 8^th Marriott-operated hotel in Hawaii to reach an agreement with Local 5, after Marriott workers led a historic nationwide strike in 2018

(KOLOA) – UNITE HERE Local 5 members who work at Sheraton Kauai voted overwhelmingly yesterday to ratify a union contract that covers over 200 workers.

The contract is modeled after the contract agreement that was reached on November 27 with Kyo-ya, which owns five Marriott-operated hotels. Beginning in October 2018, nearly 2,700 workers at the five hotels went on strike for 51 days with the demand that one job should be enough to live in Hawaii. It was part of a nationwide strike, involving over 7,700 Marriott workers from 23 hotels in eight cities.

Sheraton Kauai workers also authorized a strike, but they did not go on strike when nearly 2,700 Kyo-ya workers began striking on October 8. But the “One Job Should Be Enough” message nevertheless resonated with Sheraton Kauai workers.

“The Sheraton Kauai workers are grateful to the Kyo-ya workers who went on strike and paved the way to a great contract for everyone. We love Local 5!” says Edwin Pascua, a doorman at the Sheraton Kauai.

The new union contract includes job security; reductions in subcontracting of staff positions; worker involvement in the implementation of new technology and automation; a child/elder care fund; a reduction in workload for housekeepers; an increase in wages, an increase in pension contributions; and an increase in health and welfare contributions.

Collective bargaining agreements at 20 Local 5 hotels expired in 2018. With eight union contracts settled and 12 more hotel contracts remaining, the “One Job Should Be Enough” campaign continues. Local 5 now turns its attention to making one job enough for other hotel workers, other Local 5 members who work in healthcare and food service, and the broader community of working people.

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UNITE HERE Local 5 represents approximately 11,000 workers throughout Hawaii who work in the hospitality, health care and food service industries and is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, an international union that represents over 270,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.unitehere5.org.

Dear Kaiser Local 5 Members,

By now you may have received an email from Inside KP asking you to fill out a survey about our Labor Management Partnership and what is or is not working.

Alliance Union leaders have partnered with KP, in conjunction with Brandeis University, to create this survey so that our union members can provide a picture of how the Partnership is working in the clinic department, on hospital floors, in offices and elsewhere.

As we make a fresh start under our 2018 Alliance National Agreement, this survey is a chance to help shape the future of our renewed Labor Management Partnership with Kaiser Permanente.

We urge you to carve out time in your day to complete the survey, which you can access here.

ALL union members, managers and physicians covered by the Partnership will be surveyed – something that hasn’t happened in more than 15 years.

The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, but you can fill it out a few minutes at a time. You can work on it on the job as long as it does not interfere with patient care.

IMPORTANT: The survey asks for your KP NUID, but your responses will be kept anonymous. Your name or any identifying information will not be connected to your responses.

Please take over the next week to fill out the survey and encourage your co-workers to as well. Let us know how you experience partnership at the frontline, and what you want out of partnership and how it can be improved!

The Union filed a grievance on behalf of the engineering department at Sheraton Maui because the company used a subcontracted painting company for projects our Local 5 engineers have done in the past. We won the case and the workers got a total of $26,471 in backpay.