Mon. 4/13 COVID-19 Daily Update

 

Check out this photo from Hale Nani Local 5 members! Thank you for all your hard work!

Don’t forget to share our UNITE HERE Local 5 Membership Hardship Fund website to your network: www.uniteherelocal5.org

 

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: Cases: 1.9M .  Deaths: 120k

USA: Cases: 581k.  Deaths: 23.6k.  Total Tested: 2.9M

Hawaii: Cases:  504(+4).  Deaths: 9.  Hospitalized: 44. Recovered: 315

 

Hawaii sees just 5 new COVID-19 cases, bringing statewide total to 504 (Hawaii New Now, Apri, 13 ,2020)

On Monday there were only 5 new cases reported, on Sunday it was 13 new cases, Saturday 21 new cases.

 

Hawaii’s Not Ready For A Wave Of Evictions Caused By The Pandemic (Civil Beat, April 13, 2020)

In the context of unprecedented unemployment and economic disruption, the article discusses some of the limited federal protection for federal backed mortgaged landlords and their renters and paints a picture of how renters and landlords may approach evictions, paying rent and tenancy based on their pragmatic financial self-interests.  The article reports on calls from lawmakers and stakeholders for extensive moratoriums on evictions or foreclosures, the newly formed Honolulu Tenants Union wants a blanket permanent forbearance on all rent and mortgages for the length of the emergency.

 

AUW launches rent, utility assistance program to meet ‘unprecedented’ need (Hawaii News Now, April 13, 2020)

Aloha United Way’s launched a $1.25 million program to help families in need with rent and utilities. AUW estimates that will be able to help about 900 families. For more information on the program, call 211 or visit AUW.org.

 

Hawaii explores deterring tourists by limiting hotel reservations (Star Advertiser, April 13, 2020)

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Incident Commander Kenneth Hara said today that Gov. David Ige’s administration is exploring further stemming the flow of visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic by disrupting their ability to make hotel reservations.

Sun. 4/12: COVID-19 Daily Update

HOW TO STAY CURRENT WITH YOUR MEMBERSHIP DUES

We have a new page on our website on how to stay current with your membership dues. As you know, continued dues payment is essential in keeping the Union strong. The government will not give the Union money to continue to keep our operations running like the government bailed out the Corporations.  Being in good standing is important for you and the Union.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Dr. Scott Miscovich warns of community spread from Maui Memorial outbreak (KITV, April 12, 2020)

The article relays some strong opinions from Dr. Miscovich about how he felt Maui Memorial caused its recent outbreak. The article says, “Maui Memorial Medical Center is emerging as the poster child of what hospitals should not do during the coronavirus pandemic. Premier Medical Group Hawaii’s Dr. Scott Miscovich says conservative policies on how personal protective equipment is used and not enough testing of frontline workers led to an outbreak… An online petition started by an ICU nurse calling for the removal of hospital leaders now has more than 2,700 signatures, alleging ‘abusive and dangerous policies’ are putting lives at risk. He hopes this serves as a lesson to other medical institutions who have similar conservative policies.”

Hawaii senior care homes take extreme measures to keep COVID-19 out (Star Advertiser, April 12, 2020)

Senior care homes in Hawaii have so far avoided any cases of coronavirus, thanks to strong measures taken early on.

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: Cases: 1.85M (+150k).  Deaths: 114.4k (+5.4).  Recovered: 430K (+26k)

USA: Cases: 557k(+28k).  Deaths: 22.1k (+1.5k).  Recovered: 41.8k (+9.8k)

Hawaii: Cases:  499(+13).  Deaths:  9 (0).  Hospitalized: 44 (0). Recovered: 310 (+10)

Sat. 4/11: COVID-19 Daily Update

DONATE TO LOCAL 5’S HARDSHIP FUND FOR WORKERS FACING FINANCIAL CHALLENGES DUE TO COVID-19

Local 5’s Hardship Fund donation website is live! Our hardship fund will offer financial assistance to our members who are facing economic challenges due to COVID-19. Together, we will survive this pandemic stronger than ever.

Donate here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Hawaii’s New Unemployment Application Excludes Micronesian Migrant Workers (Civil Beat, April 11, 2020)

The article claims that the new DLIR website for unemployment registration doesn’t yet have the same option for COFA residents to apply for benefits as the old DLIR form. Bill Kunstman, a spokesman for the state unemployment office, told Civil Beat that applicants from COFA nations should apply through the state’s original unemployment online portal rather than the new web form.  The article also details some advice from advocacy organizations for applicant using the newer web form who are in this scenario.

First wave of stimulus payments deposited on Saturday, IRS says (KHON, Apri 11, 2020

The $1,200 one-time stimulus checks have begun going out to to Americans according to the IRS.

Hilton Hawaiian Village to temporarily close amid coronavirus pandemic (Hawaii News Now, April 11, 2020)

The property will shut down on Monday for an indefinite period of time. Guests who are currently at the hotel are in the process of being notified of the closure. It was not immediately clear whether the employees had been laid off or would be compensated during the closure.

A 2 mile-long line stretched around Ala Moana. A sign families need help (Hawaii News Now, April 11, 2020

Hundreds of cars formed a line as long as two miles from Ward Avenue to Ala Moana Center Saturday morning for the Salvation Army’s drive-thru emergency food distribution.

Childcare Options For Essential Hawaiʻi Workers (Big Island Now, April 11, 2020

PATCH, the state’s designated Child Care Resource and Referral Agency, worked with licensed and registered providers to determine who is still operating and providing care for keiki of essential workers. The list can be accessed by clicking here.

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: Cases: 1.7M (+109k).  Deaths: 108.8k (+6.1k).  Recovered: 404K (+28k)

USA: Cases: 529k(+28k).  Deaths: 20.6k (+1.9k).  Recovered: 32K

Hawaii: Cases:  486(+21).  Deaths:  9 (+1).  Hospitalized: 44 (+1). Recovered: 300 (+16)

Fri. 4/10: COVID-19 Daily Update

LOCAL 5 PROMOTES SAFE HOTELS, SAFE HAWAII PROGRAM TO KEEP HAWAII HOTELS OPEN WHILE PRIORITIZING PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY

We released our “Safe Hotels, Safe Hawaii” guidelines today and proposed to our hotel employers that they adopt these guidelines immediately to ensure the health and safety of hotel guests, hotel workers, and the broader public amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full guidelines here. Watch this video from Local 5 President Gemma Weinstein.

LOCAL 5 ON FACEBOOK LIVE

Every week, Local 5 will feature our members to share how they are keeping themselves busy in the safety of their homes.

Today, Local 5 member Aina Mei Iglesias, a front desk worker at Hilton DoubleTree Alana and an award-winning powerlifter, shared a quick workout routine and encouraged the community to donate to the Local 5 Hardship Fund to help workers who have been temporarily laid off. You can watch the full workout routine here.

Watch our next Facebook Live video next Friday at 5pm.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Hawaii officials cannot say when state unemployment checks will include extra $600 federal payments (Star Advertiser, April 10, 2020)

The addition to this story already reported on yesterday is that the DLIR is saying they are “already getting calls from our business community saying, ‘Hey, you guys are being too lax with the ability to pay people because we don’t want to get an experience rating increase and then have to pay for this on the back end.”

The business community doesn’t want working class people who got laid off to get financial help they are entitled to because businesses don’t want to possibly pay higher unemployment insurance tax later.

3 employees, a patient at Maui Memorial test positive for COVID-19 as cluster grows (Hawaii News Now, April 10, 2020)

There are 19 cases stemming from Maui Memorial Medical Center.  The report claims that Kaiser didn’t report that one of the new deaths from corona reported today was one of its patients who died on Tuesday April 7th, but it wasn’t reported to the DOH until today (Friday, April 10).

Health officials say the outbreak started in mid-March. In the wake of the cluster being made public, the hospital has stepped up its safety protocols. As reported earlier, the state Health Director Bruce Anderson said the hospital hadn’t been adhering to infection control principles, like requiring visitors to undergo temperature checks and wear masks upon entering the building, and the facility didn’t provide staff with enough personal protective equipment.

Local 5 represents hospitality and healthcare workers. This is why it is important to implement proper health & safety procedures immediately—in our healthcare facilities and in our hotels that may be used as temporary quarantine shelters.

Just days after the Hotels for Heroes program launched, first responders and medical workers are calling it confusing and too restrictive (Hawaii News Now, April 10, 2020)

Hawaii News Now says first responders including nurses and firefighters are reporting confusion or denial of services with Hotel for Heroes program. There is lots of confusion about the program with some saying all rooms have been taken already, that Kaiser didn’t sign up in time so its workers couldn’t use it, and that responders who are positive or in self quarantine are not eligible for the hotel stays. The article notes that even Mayor Caldwell framed the hotels rooms as quarantine facilities, when the hotel rooms were meant for uninfected responders to sleep somewhere so that they wouldn’t risk infecting their households.

More drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites planned statewide (Hawaii News Now, April 10, 2020)

This Saturday, April 11, one test site will be on Oahu at Waipio Peninsula Soccer complex from 8am to 12pm. There will be no Kakaako testing site this time. On Hawaii Island, testing will be at Hilo Civic Center’s Hoolulu Complex from 8am to 3pm. For more information, call Premier Medical Group Hawaii at (808) 304-8816 or (808) 367-6020.

Hawaii’s Senior Care Facilities Scramble To Prepare For COVID-19 Spread (Civil Beat, April 10, 2020)

The article discusses the different types of facilities for senior care and how each type faces its own challenges in finding PPE, adhering to medical best practices and regulations. Aside from larger skilled nursing facilities, smaller community assisted living facilities may not be as well equipped to deal with COVID in their patient populations.

Hawaii, Kauai counties shut down vacation rentals to halt coronavirus (Pacific Business News, 4/10/20)

Vacation rentals are not considered essential services like hotels and motels and will be ordered shut down by Mayors on Hawaii and Kauai

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: Cases: 1.7M (+100k).  Deaths: 102.7k (+7k).  Recovered: 376K (+22k)

USA: Cases: 501k(+36k).  Deaths: 18.7k (+2.1k).  Recovered:

Hawaii: Cases:  465(+23).  Deaths:  8 (+2).  Hospitalized: 43 (+1). Recovered: 284 (+33)

Thu. 4/9 COVID-19 Daily Update

Local 5 on Facebook Live!

Every week, Local 5 will feature our members to share how they are keeping themselves busy in the safety of their homes. This week, Local 5 member Aina Iglesias, a frontdesk worker at Hilton DoubleTree Alana and an award-winning powerlifter, will share a quick workout routine!

 

Join us for our first ‘Local 5 on Facebook Live’ tomorrow, Friday 5pm!

 

News Highlights

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: Cases: 1.6M (+120k).  Deaths: 95.7k (+7.2k).  Recovered: 354K (+24k)

USA: Cases: 465k(+34k).  Deaths: 16.6k (+1.8k).  Recovered: 30k (+6.1k)

Hawaii: Cases:  442(+7).  Deaths:  6 (+1).  Hospitalized: 42 (0). Recovered: 251 (+138)

 

 

Inside the Union Where Coronavirus Put 98% of Members Out of Work (propublica, April 9, 2020)

A long article detailing how the pandemic has impacted our UNITE HERE international union, locals and members.

 

Hawaii officials cannot say when state unemployment checks will include extra $600 federal payments (Star Advertiser, April 9, 2020)

– State officials cannot say how soon Hawaii’s unemployed workers will receive an extra $600 a week in federally promised benefits because they still haven’t been able to automate the state system to add the extra money to unemployment checks.

– The $600 federal payments  are supposed to be added to workers’ weekly unemployment benefits but DLIR said that similar “plus-up” payments in Hawaii in 2008 were added to unemployment checks manually, and 200k claims this time around make it impossible to add manually.

– DLIR is working to automate the process of adding the $600 to the state checks.

– People who file claims do not need to do anything to claim the extra benefit or the 13 weeks of extended benefits, DLIR said.

– the DLIR had received 207,126 unemployment filings — not counting duplicate filings and estimated 45,000 claims that have been filed are missing data, or “the data needs to be adjusted.”

– For right now we’re just trying to get the original claims through. At this point I cannot make a guess as to when that’s going to happen, DLIR’s Director Murakami said

 

Problems for newly unemployed shift from filing, to getting paid (Hawaii News Now, April 9, 2020)

– Those who have successfully made claims are now running into problem with updating the weekly certification requirements.

– DLIR is waiving the deadlines right now.

– Claimants are getting timed out or they can’t log on. DLIR will back date the weekly certifications if they’re not able to do it timely.

– The UI process that took 14 days before the coronavirus outbreak, is now taking about 21 days.

 

You filed an unemployment claim. Now what? Labor Department answers your questions (Hawaii News Now, April 9, 2020)

DLIR explains some of the tech issues slowing down their responses and answers the following three questions for applicants with some issues, view the article for more detailed answers to following questions:

– Claims have been denied without an explanation. What should they do to find out why? A: see article for response.

–  The job search requirements for those unemployed have now been waived, so why does the question still show up? A: just answer “yes” for being able and available to work.

– When can people expect to receive benefits? A: trying to get it done and checks out within 21 day timeline

 

City announces nighttime curfew for Easter weekend in push to keep people home (Hawaii  News Now, April 9, 2020)

Honolulu will have a night time curfew for wheeled vehicles during Easter Weekend from April 10th-12th, every night from 11pm to 5am and ending on Monday morning at 5am.  People can walk but can’t use bicycles, scooters or mopeds on the roads.  Exceptions to the curfew include emergencies and first responders, driving to and from work, those making deliveries, security personnel, and people picking up medication.

 

Wed. 4/8/20: COVID-19 Daily Update

NEW RESOURCES: IRS ECONOMIC IMPACT PAYMENTS

We added new information to our Local 5 Resource Page on the economic impact payments that the IRS will be sending out to most taxpayers. View the flyer here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Cluster of workers at Maui Memorial Medical Center have contracted coronavirus, sources say (Star Advertiser, April 8, 2020)

At least 15 employees are COVID-19 positive at the island’s largest hospital, and potentially 300 to 500 more people may have been in direct contact with the workers.  The concern is that employees being tested at the hospital will need to quarantine for 14 days, leaving a shortage of health care workers on island. The report claimed that Kaiser Permanente banned workers from wearing personal protective equipment unless caring for coronavirus patients, leaving them open to infection.

Agency scrambles as Hawaii’s jobless claims top 194,000 (Star Advertiser, April 8, 2020)

The DLIR stated:

  • On average, claims processing is taking 21 days, a number the department is working hard to reduce.
  • Eliminated the requirement to wait five days for employers to verify a claim before processing starts.
  • Eliminated requirements for employers to certify partial unemployment claims.
  • Eliminated need for applicants to post resumes and search for jobs.
  • Regarding the federal $600 weekly UI bonus, US DOL reports backdate startsas of the signing of a state’s agreement with the Federal government, or a person’s state UI eligibility date (whichever comes later). But as of March 28, all states have signed the agreement. This law blog analysis implies the $600/week eligibility would apply to UI claims from April 5, 2020 to July 31, 2020. This other law blog makes it clear the $600 is taxable.

Under Trump the NLRB Has Gone Completely Rogue (The Nation, April 7, 2020)

This article details some of the long-running programs in place by the Republican-dominated NLRB (zero Democrats are on the board) to dismantle worker rights. For example, the NLRB is in the process of changing the standard so employers can push more disputes into arbitration. Another example: the Trump General Counsel has urged the NLRB to allow employers to undermine the bargaining process by unilaterally imposing discretionary discipline without bargaining with the union.

See the article’s chart for a full list of the NLRB’s progress on fulfilling the US Chamber of Commerce wish list of NLRA rollbacks. The article also reports on some of the more recent COVID-related actions taken by NLRB, including election rules.

Trump: GOP should fight mail-in voting because it ‘doesn’t work out well for Republicans’ (Politico, April 8, 2020)

Trump said on Twitter, “Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to statewide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”

Republicans will claim voter fraud as the reason when studies have shown it is literally not a problem. But Trump has now revealed the real reason is that when more people vote easily, Democrats tend to win (while states use faulty electronic voting machines developed by shady companies that lobby for use of machines that undermine democratic processes) .

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: Cases: 1.48M (+50k).  Deaths: 88.5k (+6.4k).  Recovered: 330K (+29k)

USA: Cases: 431k(+31k).  Deaths: 14.8k (+1.9k).  Recovered: 23.9k (+1.5k)

Hawaii: Cases:  435(+25).  Deaths:  5 (0).  Hospitalized: 42 (0). Recovered: 113 (0)