Hotel housekeepers to leaflet Waikiki beach encouraging daily room cleaning

Media Advisory for September 9, 2021

Media Contact:

Bryant de Venecia

Cell Phone: (808) 546-0024

bdevenecia@5.unitehere.org

Hotel housekeepers to leaflet Waikiki beach encouraging daily room cleaning

Eliminating daily room cleaning means fewer housekeepers are brought back to work and tougher workloads for remaining housekeepers

WHAT: Hotel housekeepers pass out leaflets to hotel guests along Waikiki Beach to encourage them to request daily room cleaning

WHERE: Waikiki Beach, near the Duke Kahanamoku statue (near Kalakaua Ave. and Uluniu Ave.)

WHEN: Friday, September 10, 2021 (4:30pm – 5:30pm)

WHO: Dozens of UNITE HERE Local 5 hotel workers wearing red shirts and masks, socially distanced and passing out leaflets to hotel guests at the beach

WHY: Since many Hawaii hotels reopened in October 2020, the hotel industry has been cutting guest services so that fewer workers return to work. Daily room cleaning is an example of one guest service that has been eliminated, resulting in hundreds of Local 5 housekeepers not returning to work. Housekeepers who have returned to work are suffering from fatigue and stress because it is more difficult to clean a room that hasn’t been cleaned for several days, sometimes weeks.

As COVID cases increase and hotel occupancy plummets, housekeepers will be passing out leaflets to hotel guests along Waikiki Beach to encourage them to request daily room cleaning.

They also continue to urge state legislators and employers to do more to bring back guest services so that hospitality workers can get back to work safely. Other municipalities like San Francisco are mandating daily room cleaning at hotels.

In August, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint and notice of hearing against Hilton Hawaiian Village based on an unfair labor practice charge filed by UNITE HERE Local 5, alleging that the hotel  refused to provide the Union with documents backing up the hotels’ claim that eliminating daily room cleaning was partially due to guest preference.

Hotel guests have expressed on local and international news that they were “caught off guard by the lack of daily room cleaning” and frustrated that they have to do their own cleaning.

Local 5 represents approximately 12,000 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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