Local 5 endorses David Ige for Governor
Local 5 endorses David Ige for Governor
Hawaii’s Best Union three years in a row announced the endorsement to hundreds of Local 5 members at their annual statewide Delegate Convention
(Honolulu, HI) – UNITE HERE Local 5, Hawaii’s Best Union three years in a row and one of the largest private sector unions in the state, announced that they are endorsing David Ige for Governor. The announcement was made at Local 5’s annual statewide Delegate Convention, where hundreds of Local 5 members enthusiastically responded to the news.
Local 5’s member-led Political Action Team made the endorsement recommendation, and Local 5’s elected Executive Board unanimously supported the endorsement.
“Local 5 is endorsing Governor Ige in his re-election campaign because he has been loyal to Hawaii’s working families. We saw this when he vetoed a bad Airbnb bill; if it had passed, it would have allowed illegal vacation rentals to overrun our state and take away what little affordable housing is left for locals. He shot down the NextEra merger with Hawaiian Electric, which would have been disastrous for working families who already pay way too much for utilities and can’t afford to pay more,” says Eric Gill, Financial Secretary-Treasurer of Local 5.
Governor Ige also affirmed his support for nearly 150 non-union United Airlines catering workers at the Honolulu Airport who want a fair process to unionize. “Governor Ige understands that workers like me are the backbone of Hawaii’s tourism industry. I’m happy to hear that he supports raising the minimum wage to $15. As a non-union United Airlines catering worker, I only make $12 an hour and struggle to make ends meet. Like us, Governor Ige believes that one job should be enough to live in Hawai’i and support our families,” says Ino Otto, who has worked at United Airlines catering for five years.
Over 10,000 Local 5 members in the hospitality, healthcare, and food service industries have union contracts expiring this year. Most of the major union hotel contracts expire on June 30. Governor Ige pledged to support Local 5’s One Job Should Be Enough campaign and will be joining Local 5 members next week as we publicly launch the campaign.
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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