Local 5 awarded Hawaii’s Best Union
Local 5 was awarded Hawaii’s Best Union by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser! Mahalo to our Local 5 members for making us the best union in Hawaii. If you missed yesterday’s paper, you can view the full issue here.
Hilton maintenance worker wins overtime back pay
William Hutchins, who works in the Hilton Hawaiian Village maintenance department, was not offered a work opportunity according to seniority. He filed a grievance with the Contract Enforcement Team and won 8 hours of overtime back pay. Congratulations!
HCC workers delegate Hilton executive over wage theft
Last year, we reported that nearly 50 Hawaii Care and Cleaning (HCC) workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village were not being paid union wages between 2008-13, totaling nearly $1.8 million in lost wages. Recently, HCC workers delegated Jerry Gibson (Hilton’s regional vice president) to address this wage theft issue and demand their lost wages. They shared their struggles to support their families and pay for basic necessities because this money was stolen from them. HCC workers came out of the meeting with their heads held high. They will continue to fight for justice!
NLRB: Hale Nani “was not privileged to ban employees from wearing their red shirts”
Since December 2015, the workers at Avalon Hale Nani have been fighting for more staffing to better care for their kupuna residents. On paydays, Hale Nani has a policy whereby workers are allowed to wear street clothes to work, including t-shirts with logos of all kinds and sizes. On the March 16 payday, workers wore red Union t-shirts that read, “Our Kupuna Deserve Better. Hale Nani: Better Staffing Now!” on the front with the Local 5 logo on the back. Managers threatened workers with termination and refused to let workers work with their t-shirts because it had the Union logo on it. The Employer sent workers home and then filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) claiming the Union had conducted and unlawful work stoppage.
On May 27, 2016, the NLRB dismissed Hale Nani’s charge against the Union. The NLRB determined that the Hale Nani “was not privileged to ban employees from wearing their red t-shirts” because the message on the t-shirts worn by Hale Nani employees “was not inherently disruptive to Hale Nani patient care and does not send a clear message of danger…”
Local 5 also filed four ULP charges against the Hale Nani which the NLRB is currently investigating. The Union alleges that Hale Nani unlawfully terminated a Union supporter; unlawfully surveilled, interfered with and threatened employees participating in union activity; and unlawfully changed work rules.
Great job to the Hale Nani workers for standing up for their rights!
Court upholds NLRB decision that The Modern unlawfully fired Juliana Alcaraz
For over four years, we have been fighting to get Juliana Alcaraz’s job back after she was fired from The Modern Honolulu.
In 2014, an administrative law judge ruled that The Modern violated federal labor law when it unlawfully fired housekeeper Juliana for speaking out about working conditions at the hotel. The judge ruled that, among other things, The Modern must reinstate Juliana with full backpay.
The Modern challenged the decision, but the NLRB in Washington DC upheld the judge’s decision. The Modern appealed again to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied The Modern’s petition for review and enforced the NLRB’s decision in full, including the judge’s finding that “repeatedly discredited [housekeeping manager Emma] Clemente’s ‘self-serving, contradictory and improbable account.'” Congratulations once again to Juliana and the workers at The Modern Honolulu!
