Tue. 6/16/20: COVID-19 update
FRI. 6/19/20 – LOCAL 5 MAYORAL FORUM
Our next Facebook Live will be a worker-centered Mayoral Forum this Fri. 6/19, 7pm-8:30pm. Candidates of the Honolulu Mayoral Race will be asked questions about issues that impact Hawaii’s working families. Watch it live and ask your questions: http://facebook.com/uniteherehawaii/live.
STATEWIDE ACTIONS TO DEMAND PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY FOR HAWAII’S WORKERS
Hundreds of Local 5 members organized protests on Oahu, Maui, and Big Island to send a strong message to government leaders to prioritize public health & safety of workers before reopening Hawaii tourism.
Our actions even made international news. Read below for news highlights. Click here for photos of our actions. Click here to watch a video of our Capitol Caravan.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS FOR THREE SUCCESSFUL FOOD DISTRIBUTIONS FOR LOCAL 5 MEMBERS
Local 5 members were the fortunate recipients of three food distributions over the last three weeks. All were designated for furloughed Local 5 members only.
Big shout out to Kaiser Permanente Hawaii who organized the distributions on May 31 and June 7. Also a big mahalo to Tiffany Trang from Accounting Management LLC, her family and friends who contributed to make the distribution on June 13 possible and to Kamaka Air who made the site arrangement.
Local 5 members are grateful to all who donated funds and time to these 3 events.
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Hotel workers rally for safe reopening, health care – The Maui News.
Good Maui News story about our Maui car caravan action. Hawaii News Now also covered the event via the Associated Press.
Hotel workers protest, calling for protection ahead of tourism restart – Hawaii News Now.
Hawaii News Now also reported on the Oahu caravan action. KHON2 ran the story as well. Clarification on Eric Gill’s quote in the article: at least five NON-UNION hotels so far have already given workers notice that they’re permanently discharged and they have to apply for their jobs again.
First day of quarantine-free travel between islands begins – KHON2
Excerpt: “Tuesday was the first day you could travel between the islands without having to quarantine. But you’ll need to fill out a form and get your temperature checked. Some passengers tell us they didn’t have trouble with the new procedure. A state department of transportation representative said on Tuesday morning, it was also going well. Still, travelers should come to the airport early and have those mandatory forms ready for a smoother process.”
Corporations Are Claiming “Black Lives Matter.” That Would Be News to Their Workers. – Jacobin.
Excerpt: “So unions clearly empower African Americans—yet Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald’s are unabashed union-busters. In order to crush organizing efforts (very often led by people of color), these companies invest far more in lawyers, consulting firms, and employee surveillance than they’ll ever dish out to promote “diversity.””
A quote from this opinion piece by Senator Laura Thielen, who was a guest on one of our recent Facebook Live Town Halls: “The $632 million in federal COVID money should be used to keep residents, local businesses and nonprofits afloat.”
Third COVID-19 Case Confirmed At Oahu Nursing Home – Honolulu Civil Beat
Two patients and one nurse at Hale Nani Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, a Local 5 property, have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Wynn Las Vegas first resort to reopen buffet (KHON, June 15, 2020)
New buffet format is all you can order with food brought to the table instead of self serve.
Hotels address health and hygiene concerns in a post COVID-19 world (Star Advertiser, June 15, 2020)
Best Western predicts its safety protocol will increase room cleaning time by 50%. One example adding to cleaning time is how new chemicals being used now require sitting time on surfaces to be effective. The article talks about the general guidelines offered by corporate offices and the inevitable variation in execution by various managers or franchisees, as well as independent hotel variances.
Record spikes in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations sweep parts of U.S. (AOL, June 15, 2020)
“Arkansas, North Carolina, Texas and Utah all had a record number of patients enter the hospital on Saturday. In South Carolina, 69% to 77% of hospital beds are occupied, depending on the region.”
World: Cases: 8.1M (+100k). Deaths: 441k (+5k).
USA: Cases: 2.13M (+20k). Deaths: 116.9k (+800).
Hawaii: Cases: 740 (+4). Deaths: 17 (+0). Hospitalized: 92 (+1). Recovered: 637 (+7)
