Updated at 6:45 p.m., Friday, July 6, 2001

Gill wins Local 5 election by narrow margin

By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer

Labor leader Eric Gill was narrowly re-elected today to the top post of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 5, ending months of turmoil that had left the key union under international trusteeship.

Gill defeated Tony Rutledge by 21 votes.

With 5,289 ballots cast, Gill had 2,527, Rutledge had 2,506.

A third candidate, Estan Reynon, also in the high-profile race for the financial secretary-treasurer post, had 256 votes.

Also elected were president Orlando Soriano, with 2,815 votes. Soriano defeated Arlene Ilae, who had 2,287 votes. Senior vice president Hernando Ramos Tan was elected with 2,418 votes, defeating Kaui Akana who had 2,371 votes, and William Mina, who had 282.

In all, Gill and his supporters won 12 out of 15 positions on the executive board, giving him majority control.

John Seibel, president of Trueballot Inc., the Bethesda, Md.-company brought in to do an electronic tally of the ballots, said an immediate computer audit was conducted and verified the results.

"We want to make sure there just isn't any question," Seibel said.

Officials said the election drew ballots from about 53 percent of union members eligible to vote. About 45 percent of the union's 10,000 members voted in the previous election.

Gill said today that he thought the hard work he and his supporters did over the past year has helped them prepare to be more effective this time around.

Gill also said he hoped to work with Rutledge in the future. "I hope to work with (Tony) again, but that's going to be his choice," Gill said.

Rutledge said he would voluntarily resign as vice president of the international union at the upcoming convention since he is no longer a local union officer.

Rutledge, who said he would remain involved with Unity House, also said he hoped Gill would fare better this time around in the top post.

Now that he has the majority he "won't have any excuses this time," Rutledge said. "I hope he does better this time around than the last."

Sherri Chiesa, the trustee appointed this year by the international union to take control of the local union paralyzed by a leadership struggle, is counting on the election to serve as the final resolution to a power struggle between rival factions backing Gill and Rutledge.

Rutledge is the head of Unity House, a $60 million organization set up by his father to benefit Local 5 members and Teamsters. He also is the vice president of the international hotel union, the organization that appointed Chiesa.

Rutledge held the secretary-treasurer post for 14 years before Gill, running as a reformer, used strong support from ethnic Filipino members to claim a tight election win last year. An ensuing leadership stalemate involving the Gill and Rutledge factions prompted the international union to send Chiesa to Honolulu in February to take over the activities of the local union.