Message from Local 5 President, Gemma Weinstein
Check this video of Local 5 President Gemma Garampil Weinstein
Submit your testimony to show strong support to Bill 85 and enforcement provisions in Bill 89 re: vacation rentals
Workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the largest Hilton in the world, announce strike vote at International Women’s Day Rally
Press Release for March 8, 2019
Media Contacts:
Paola Rodelas
Cell Phone: (808) 333-4782
[email protected]
Bryant de Venecia
Cell Phone: (808) 546-0024
[email protected]
Workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the largest Hilton in the world, announce strike vote at International Women’s Day Rally
Nearly 2,000 Local 5 members will be taking a strike vote on March 21 to send a clear, unified message that One Job Should Be Enough to live in Hawaii
(Honolulu) – UNITE HERE Local 5 members at Hilton Hawaiian Village rallied today at the world’s largest Hilton to demand a new contract for the hotel’s 2,000 workers. They announced that they will be taking a strike vote on March 21 to send a clear, unified message that One Job Should Be Enough to live in Hawaii.
Hundreds of workers and community members gathered on International Women’s Day to show strength and solidarity as members approach bargaining with Hilton. The rally also included non-union hotel workers from the DoubleTree Hilton Alana Waikiki who recently called on Hilton for a fair process to decide whether to unionize. The DoubleTree Alana is operated by the Hilton and owned by Malaysia-based Keck Seng. Every year, Local 5 organizes an action for International Women’s Day to honor and celebrate women, who comprise the majority of workers in Hawaii’s largest industry.
Local 5 represents over 1,800 workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village – the largest hotel in Hawaii and the largest Hilton hotel in the world – as well as nearly 200 workers at Hawaii Care & Cleaning (HCC), who are subcontracted to do housekeeping work at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Their union contracts expired in July 2018. Contract negotiations with Hilton will commence on March 22 and 23.
Local 5 members who work at Hilton are demanding a new contract that will put the workers on par with 2,700 workers from the five Marriott-operated hotels who went on a 51-day strike in 2018 to demand that one job should be enough to live in Hawaii.
On top of wage and benefits increase and workplace safety, Local 5 members at Hilton demand that the company address the issue of subcontracting and automation. “Subcontracting is rapidly encroaching our workplace and it needs to be eliminated. When you bring in more people from the outside, what is going to happen to my job? Also, we need to make sure that when jobs are automated and technology replace services, the workers can adapt to new roles and keep their jobs. We need the job security. I’m voting yes to strike because I want to have my future secured not only for myself and my family but also for the future generations, ” says Ruby Ann Rubina, a housekeeper at Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Subcontracted workers from HCC also call on Hilton to end subcontracting and bring the workers in-house so that they can be treated equally to the Hilton workers they work alongside. “The reason why I’m voting yes to strike is because I’ve been a member of Local 5 and pay my dues, but we don’t get the same benefits that the Hilton workers get. The only way we can get those benefits is to join them. I’m doing this all for my family. We don’t get full family medical coverage like the Hilton workers. My family needs this,” says Kenziro Kloulubak, a carpet technician at HCC.
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 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.unitehere5.org.
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Sheraton Kauai workers ratify union contract
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 8th 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.
Sat. 3/30/19: Free Citizenship Workshop
In partnership with unions, immigration attorneys, and community organizations, our Citizenship Workshop aims to provide one-on-one assistance for legal permanent residents (aka green card holders) who want to apply for U.S. citizenship.
If you are a green card holder and are interested in becoming a U.S. citizen, please attend this free workshop! It’s open to everyone, not just Local 5 members.
You must register to attend! Deadline to register: 3/16/19. Space is limited. To register, visit https://www.citizenshiphawaii.org/citizenship-workshops/ or contact Paola at 808-941-2141 or [email protected]
To see if you meet the basic eligibility requirements for U.S. citizenship, visit https://www.citizenshiphawaii.org/become-a-u-s-citizen/
Volunteers are needed as well! Please contact us if you are interested in volunteering. We will reach out to you soon with details on volunteer shifts, trainings, and more.
Survey for Kaiser Local 5 members
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!
Kaiser members: Union-negotiated Retroactive Pay – retroactive to October 1 – will be in February 1 paychecks!
Good news for Alliance Union members across Kaiser: our retroactive pay will be finally coming in this week’s paychecks. This retroactive amount in the upcoming paycheck will cover the raise from October 1 until the raise was actually included in your regular paycheck. Congratulations to everyone who stood up for the Union last summer – wearing buttons and union colors, rallying at your facility and at bargaining, and signing petitions – for helping us win strong new contracts!
In addition to pay increases that preserve our industry-leading pay and benefits, our new National Agreement met our other key goals: better benefits, a new LMP trust fund, continued access to our Ben Hudnall Memorial educational trust fund, and a plan to get our LMP back on track.
For more details on our National Agreement, including more HRA funds for retirees outside of California, a stronger Performance Sharing Plan (PSP), information on our Ben Hudnall and LMP trust funds, and getting our LMP back on track, go to our Alliance Unions website at https://www.ahcunions.org/news/2018/9/24/hard-work-and-determined-organizing-pay-off-with-strong-new-national-tentative-agreement
For members of local unions who chose to do local bargaining, please see your local union website for improvements won in your local union agreements.