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Judge rules The Modern Honolulu violated workers’ labor law rights

Modern Honolulu workers Juliana Alcaraz and Audrey Jordan-Gecain

Modern Honolulu workers Juliana Alcaraz and Audrey Jordan-Gecain

On January 23, 2014, a Federal Judge ruled that The Modern Honolulu violated workers’ labor law rights!  After a 4-day trial in October 2012, Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) William L. Schmidt has issued his decision regarding five National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unfair labor practice charges filed by UNITE HERE Local 5 (“Local 5”) against The Modern Honolulu (“Hotel”).

The ALJ agreed with Local 5 and the NLRB regarding all of the allegations against the Hotel.  The ALJ found that:

  • The Modern Honolulu unlawfully fired Juliana Alcaraz for speaking about working conditions during an employee meeting
  • The Modern Honolulu unlawfully barred Ms. Alcaraz from the hotel premises when assigned as a Union agent
  • There was a “consistent pattern” on the part of housekeeping manager Emma Clemente to illegally coerce and interrogate workers about their union activities.
  • The housekeeping manager wrongfully denied worker Jenie Amoguis her Weingarten rights when she requested to be represented by the Union during an investigatory interview.

Congratulations to the workers at The Modern Honolulu!

PWC workers at Hyatt get a better life

Hyatt PWC (square)4 months after their contract was signed, 12 People Who Clean (PWC) workers are now officially union Hyatt employees. They will now have pension, healthcare, real wages, and rights on the job.  Others continue to work for PWC but now earn up to $19 an hour (up from as low as $7.25).  For three years, Hyatt committee here and around the country fought together – and now, we’ve won together.

Nearly 500 Kaiser Permanente Hawaii Workers Stop Work in Protest

Kaiser medical assistants stand up for better patient care!

Kaiser medical assistants stand up for better patient care!

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii workers organized a one-day work stoppage on November 21, 2013 to protest a variety of initiatives that the state’s largest health care maintenance organization (HMO) is implementing that prevent workers from providing quality care to its patients.

Nearly 500 workers from clinics all over Oahu stopped work to support good patient care. They demand that Kaiser ensures that workers are able to do their jobs properly by issuing fair workloads, providing adequate staffing, hiring more staff to allow workers to take vacations, and respecting workers. Workers in Maui also protested in front of the Wailuku clinic.

“Working with patients and keeping them healthy is my pride and joy. I want to provide nothing but the best care for my patients,” says Cindy Aban, a medical assistant who has worked at Kaiser Permanente Honolulu since 2005, “But Kaiser isn’t hiring enough staff for us to be able to provide the very best, personalized care for our patients.”

Workers are asking patients to stand with them in support of better patient care by demanding that Kaiser take care of its workers so that the workers can care for their patients. Anyone can go online to sign it: unitehere5.org/patientpetition.

For more photos from the stop work and take action (SWATA) day, please visit our Facebook page.

Waikiki Beach Marriott & Ramada Plaza workers ratify their contracts

Waikiki Beach Marriott workers voted yes on their new contract for a better future

Waikiki Beach Marriott workers voted yes on their new contract for a better future

Last week was full of victories for Local 5 workers. On October 16, Waikiki Beach Marriott workers voted to approve a 5-year contract with a 129-115 vote. Their new contract guarantees increased wages for tipped and nontipped workers, improved successorship and subcontracting language, the ability to decide how much of their money will go toward pension and other benefits, and more.

“We did the right thing by voting yes for our new contract. I believe it will provide us with the biggest raises in years,” says Marriott housekeeper Rosemarie Doles, “Even better than that, we get to stand as one union with our brothers and sisters from Hilton, Hyatt, and the Sheraton properties.”

Workers at the Ramada Plaza celebrate their new contract.

Workers at the Ramada Plaza celebrate their new contract.

On October 18, with a unanimous vote, Ramada Plaza employees ratified an 8-year contract with management after working three years without a contract or wage increases. The contract begins retroactively in December 2010 and will end in December 31, 2018.

Ramada Plaza workers will receive significant wage increases for the next five years and paid union leave for leadership development and training, among other things. 100% of the workers were ready to strike if an agreement were to not have been reached, but the workers’ unity and resilience pushed management to an agreement to avoid a strike.

This is a significant victory for Ramada Plaza’s workers. The new contract ensures that Ramada Plaza will maintain the Waikiki standard that has led to the prosperity of Hawaii’s tourism industry.

Modern Honolulu workers ratify first-ever Local 5 contract

Modern Honolulu workers celebrate after the official vote count is announced

Modern Honolulu workers celebrate after the official vote count is announced

Honolulu (September 26, 2013) – With a 101-12 vote, workers at The Modern Honolulu in Waikiki approved their first union contract with UNITE HERE! Local 5.

Effective October 1, 2013, the new contract addresses the need for protecting good, local jobs in an industry that has remained profitable, but where hundreds of jobs have been cut. It includes a successorship provision that secures workers’ jobs if The Modern Honolulu is sold to another company, or changes ownership or management. This is especially important for The Modern Honolulu workers, who have seen two management changes in the two years since it has been open.

The new contract also provides hourly wage increases, two added holidays, improved workload for housekeepers, and increased porterage for bell and valet staff.

“As someone who has worked in the industry for most of my adult life, I can tell you how important it is to have job security and guaranteed benefits,” says David Yamamoto, a bartender at The Modern Honolulu. Yamamoto has been working at the hotel since 2010 when it was still the Waikiki Edition and witnessed first-hand the workers’ struggles through these management changes.

“While this is a great victory for us, the fight isn’t over,” says Audrey Jordan-Gecain, a Modern Honolulu housekeeper, “Many hotel owners are converting hotel rooms into luxury condos and timeshares. This happened at the Ilikai next door. If this happens at the Modern, our contract won’t protect us.”

From 1964 to 2006, what is today known as The Modern Honolulu was known as the Yacht Harbor Tower of the Ilikai Hotel. In 2006, Brian Anderson bought the Ilikai and sold off the Yacht Harbor Tower to eRealty. Yacht Harbor Tower then closed for renovations, putting hundreds of workers out of work, until 2010 when it reopened as the Waikiki Edition. In 2011, its owner M Waikiki LLC (a subsidiary of eRealty) ousted Marriott International, Inc. as the hotel’s management company, hired Modern Management Services LLC, an affiliate of Aqua Hotels & Resorts, to manage the property and renamed the hotel The Modern Honolulu.

The five-year contract covers over 250 Modern Honolulu workers.

Modern Honolulu: Tentative Agreement Reached!

On Thursday, September 12th, after 2 years of fighting, campaigning, and pressure from the inside out, we finally reached a tentative agreement with The Modern Honolulu hotel! This means there will be a union contract as soon as the Modern workers vote to accept it.

Before the contract can go into effect, Modern workers have the right to vote to accept or reject the tentative agreement. Therefore, all Modern workers are encouraged to come to one of the following ratification meetings to learn more about agreement before voting on it.

RATIFICATION MEETING TIMES

Thursday, September 26
8:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 3:15 PM, 5:00 PM
Local 5 Office (1516 S. King Street)
All meetings will last 60-90 minutes. Copies of the agreement will be at the meetingModern Honolulu tentative agreement

If you have any questions, please contact Erlinda Sanchez or Juliana Alcaraz at (808)941-2141.