Archive for category: Updates

Last week, the City Council failed to put Bill 80 on this week’s full Council agenda.  Shame on them! Bill 80 is straight forward – you either stand with workers like us or you side with the hotel bosses.  If Bill 80 doesn’t get a hearing now it will be dead.  There are two things we need your help with right now:

• Last Friday, we sent a text msg encouraging you to call your Councilmember. If you haven’t done so, please call them now!
• Register today to testify for Thursday’s Council Meeting to let the Council now how disappointed you are in them. Register to give video testimony on Resolution 20-296.

Let the Council know that a resolution is not good enough.  We need a Bill.  We need Bill 80 to be heard by the full Council asap!  A resolution is weak, shameful and disrespectful to workers.

We need the hotel industry to make a long-term commitment to providing good jobs as tourism returns.  If not, why else should locals support the return of visitors to our island?  The Council needs to step up and hold our hotel industry accountable.

Follow the directions below to register:

1. Register for free for Webex: https://cart.webex.com/sign-up-webex. You must have an active email to do so.
2. Once you’re registered, click here: https://www.webex.com/
3. Click “Join”
4. Enter the meeting number: 1463718942
5. Click “Register” (see photo below)
6. Complete your registration. Under “What item(s) are you speaking on?” write “Res 20-296” (see photo below)

Thanks to everyone who submitted testimony last week to support Bill 80, which requires daily hotel room cleaning and puts in place a process for hospitality workers who initially lost their jobs due to COVID-19 to be the first offered their jobs back as business returns.

Because of your testimony, Bill 80 was approved in 1^st reading and will now be heard at the Honolulu City Council Committee on Executive Matters hearing next Tuesday, October 20 at 1:00pm.

We need you to submit testimony again to support Bill 80 ASAP. Over 1,580 people submitted testimony to support Bill 80 last week. Sadly, many hotel managers opposed Bill 80.

Follow the directions below to submit testimony to support Bill 80 directly to City Council:

1. Go to: http://www.honolulu.gov/ccl-testimony-form.html
2. Under “Name,” enter your full name.
3. Under “Phone” and “Email,” enter your correct contact info. This is required info.
4. Under “Meeting Date,” enter: 10-20-2020.
5. Under “Council/PH Committee,” select: Executive Matters and Legal Affairs.
6. Under “Agenda Item,” enter: Bill 80.
7. Under “Your position on the matter,” select: Support.
8. Under “Representing,” select: Self.
9. Under “Written Testimony,” you can copy/paste the following or share why you’re supporting Bill 80:

Chair Menor and Members of the Committee on Executive Matters & Legal Affairs:

First of all, I want to thank you and your six colleagues that supported Bill 80 on first reading.  This is an important bill, especially given the prolonged impact of the pandemic and recent news regarding even more workers being permanently laid off.  On the same day that we “reopened” our State to visitors, the State’s food concession contractor at our airports laid off more than 600 hospitality workers.

I support Bill 80.  Bill 80 is about ensuring fairness for workers and our families, and its shameful that some in the hotel industry are so opposed to the bill.  Bill 80 doesn’t require businesses to do anything extraordinary other than make a commitment to workers that the jobs they once had could be there for them as business returns.  More importantly, why do we – as a community – have to fight so hard to convince our policy makers to support workers versus the corporations?  Workers are struggling.  We’re the ones in line at food distribution events, we’re the ones that have lost health care and haven’t worked for more than 6 months.

Cities all across our country, from Baltimore to Los Angeles have all passed similar measures.  So, why are hotel bosses so opposed to bringing back workers as business returns?  And why are they so opposed to offering daily room service when it’s known that cleaning high touch surfaces minimizes the risk of contact transmission of the COVID-19 virus?

For once, we need to know that you’ll stand with us too.

Thank you.

• Under “Accept Terms and Agreements,” check the checkbox.
• Enter the security code shown on your screen.

Here’s what it looks like on your computer or on your phone:

The main value to Hawai’i in promoting tourism is the creation of jobs for our people. Bill 80 was introduced to Honolulu City Council—if it passes, it will put in place a process for hospitality workers who initially lost their jobs due to COVID-19 to first be offered their jobs back as business returns.

Bill 80 will have its first hearing this Wednesday, October 7. Submit testimony to support Bill 80 ASAP by filling out the email form below:

TESTIMONY IS NOW CLOSED FOR THE 1ST HEARING. But click here for instructions on how to submit testimony for the next hearing.