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.

Sheraton Maui engineers’ victory against subcontracting

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.

Sheraton Maui cook wins grievance for lead cook position

Jerson Gonzales has been a cook at Sheraton Maui for 7 years. He applied for a lead cook position and was passed up for someone with much less seniority.  The Union filed a grievance on behalf of Jerson and we won his case.  Jerson is now working as lead cook.

UNITE HERE Local 5 members approve historic contract

UNITE HERE! Local 5

For immediate release: November 27, 2018

Media Contacts:

Paola Rodelas
Cell Phone: (808) 333-4782
prodelas@5.unitehere.org

Ikaika Hussey
Cell Phone: (808) 221-2843
ihussey@5.unitehere.org

UNITE HERE Local 5 members approve historic contract

Photos and videos of the ratification vote and the last day of our picket lines can be downloaded here.

(HONOLULU) – Local 5 members voted overwhelmingly today to ratify a historic contract for 2,700 workers at five Maui and Waikiki hotels.

The contract includes hard-won gains: job security; reductions in subcontracting of staff positions; worker involvement in technology deployment; a child/elder fund; a reduction in workload for housekeepers; an increase in wages, an increase in pension contributions; and an increase in health and welfare contributions.

Job security is a key element of the new contract. “No matter how high your pay is or how great your benefits are, if there is no job security, those benefits will disappear if you lose your job,” housekeeper Jowenna Ellazar said.

Robotics are playing an increasing role in the hotel industry, from automated check-ins to R2-D2-like droids that ferry bags up to rooms. Rather than allowing the deployment of technology to be solely the purview of management, the new contract creates a framework for workers to be at the table.

“We want to have a handle on our future. This is an act of self-determination,” Royal Hawaiian front desk worker Jean Te’o-Gibney said.

With this phase of “One Job Should Be Enough” completed successfully, the union now turns its attention to how the principle applies to other hotel workers, other unions, and the broader community of working people.

Collective bargaining agreements at a total of 20 UNITE HERE Local 5 properties expired at the end of June. And over 2,500 Marriott workers in San Francisco are still on strike.

“One job should be enough for all workers — for the hotel workers in Waikiki and Lahaina and also public school teachers from Hilo to Hanalei,” HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said. “All workers contribute to making our community special; we should be afforded respect and dignity.”

“People learned how to win on the lines – how to stand up for themselves, how to stand up for respect and dignity,” Royal Hawaiian hostess Janal Kaina said.

Marriott workers in Detroit, San Jose, San Diego, Oakland, and Boston were also on strike starting in early October, but ended their strikes after coming to agreements with management. Over 2,500 Marriott workers in San Francisco are still on strike.

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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.

Strike Bulletin: Day 50 bulletin

View PDF version of Marriott Strike Day 50 bulletin here.

View all photos from Marriott Strike Day 49.

50 Days Stronger!

As Local 5 members we are in control of the direction of this contract. We know what we need and make the decisions that are necessary to achieve our goals. Our fight shows that working people deserve a seat at the table, that we do have a voice, that we can lead, and that we will always fight for our fundamental rights.

Our goals are focused on job security, dignity, wages, and benefits. We seek achievement for ourselves and fight for progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions and aspirations affect the needs of thousands of other workers.

You are leading the way for working people in Hawaii. If our jobs—jobs in Hawaii’s largest industry—are not good jobs, then there is no real future for Hawaii’s working families. Because of our unity, we have seen tremendous progress through these negotiations. We should take pride in our unwavering dedication to this fight—a fight that moves our whole community forward. United we bargain, divided we beg.

Negotiations start at 10am. We will give updates to the lines as they come in. But let’s stay focused on keeping on our lines strong!

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