HONOLULU, Hawaii—UNITE HERE Local 5 members voted nearly unanimously Nov. 27 to ratify a
contract with the Kyo-ya hotel company, ending a 51-day strike by 2,700 workers at five Marriott hotels on Oahu and Maui. “This is a very, very good contract,” Local 5 secretary-treasurer Eric Gill told reporters. “We’re very happy with it. It was difficult. It was hard. But it was worth it.” The three-year deal, retroactive to July, will raise wages immediately by $1.50 an hour for non-tipped workers and 75 cents for tipped workers, and bring about $6 an hour more in wages and benefits by 2021. Jowenna Ellazar, a housekeeper at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, told Hawaii News Now that the strike had been “exhausting,” but “we would do it all over again because we got an amazing contract.” The agreement, Local 5 said, also contains provisions for job security; reductions in subcontracting of staff positions; worker involvement in technology deployment; a child/elder fund; a reduction in workload for housekeepers; and increases in the company’s contributions for pensions and health care. Seven of the strikes Marriott workers began in October have now ended, but more than 2,500 in San Francisco remain out. Read more
