HONOLULU (KHON2) – As Hawaii prepares to welcome visitors again, a battle breaks out between the hotel workers’ union and their employers. The union accuses the hotels of breaching their contract by failing to bring back enough workers.
The visitor industry cheered The announcement by Governor David Ige on TuesdayOctober 19th to welcome visitors again from Monday November 1st. but Local 5, which represents thousands of hotel workers across the state, said hotels reduced workers’ hours by 30% – including in July and August when tourism returned to pre-pandemic levels. The union is skeptical that enough workers will get the hours when tourists return.
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“Well, we’ll see, they’ll call people back; Hundreds of people are not being recalled. Hundreds of jobs have been lost. Hawaii’s economy will be hard hit, “said Eric Gill, Treasury Secretary and Treasurer of Local 5.
Gill said many of the hotels had taken advantage of the COVID pandemic to eliminate services and work with fewer workers, which he believed was against their contract. An example of this is that daily room cleaning is not carried out.
“The fact is, we need our housekeeping to be done daily so that people will come back. This is what people expect when they go to Hawaii. They want to go to the beach, they are coming back, there is sand and boogie boards, the kids will wreak havoc. They need someone to clean it up so they pay to come here, ”explained Gill.
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Mufi Hannemann, the president of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, said he was confident most workers will be brought back – but not immediately.
“We see this as a first step in getting workers back on board and back. But it would also be an exaggeration if we say that everyone will come back to work on November 1st, ”said Mufi Hannemann.
Hannemann said convention restrictions still prevent hotels from holding large banquets and conventions, and those working on these events will still have limited hours. He added that hotel capacity has dropped to around 50% and they need more staff to provide higher quality of service – which the state is trying to promote.
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“So we want to get back to what it was in 2019 when it was around 80% plus. So that will take time, of course we have to bring more people back to work, ”said Hannemann.
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He added that it is vital for the hospitality industry to send the right message to visitors when they return.
