Guests having booked the Hilton Hawaiian Village may be in for a surprise. The Hilton is the largest hotel in Waikiki.
Tomorrow, Friday a rally of a Hawaii Union UNITE HERE Local 5 members who work at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, with support from community allies and fellow members from other Local 5 hotels, will demand for a better contract and job protection.
One Job Should Be Enough was the slogan when a massive number of hotel workers stopped working on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. A 51-day strike of 2,700+ Marriott/Kyoya workers in 2018 set the tourism industry standards for better wages and benefits for thousands of hotel workers. Now, the 1,700 workers from Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki are trying to raise that standard even further by focusing on job preservation.
Members at Hilton are demanding the company to address the poverty wages and workload issues in its timeshare towers, stronger language to protect jobs even with the implementation of automation and technological changes, and to disincentivize subcontracting. Last month, Hilton workers authorized a strike with a 91% yes vote. Contract negotiations with the company will resume next week.
A break-off group will do a concurrent action at The Modern Honolulu at 4:00 pm to protest the layoff of 78 workers and the negative timeshare practices by the owner, Diamond Resorts.
