Gill regains leadership of hotel workers union

By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer

Beleaguered labor leader Eric Gill won re-election by just 21 votes yesterday to retake the top post in Hawai'i's largest hotel workers union, ending months of turmoil that had splintered the union and left it in trusteeship.

Tony Rutledge, right, yesterday congratulates Eric Gill shortly after Local 5 election results were announced. Rutledge said he is waiting to see how well Gill performs before he agrees to work with Gill wholeheartedly. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

After first winning the post in March 2000, Gill lost power in February when the union's international officers placed the local in a trusteeship, declaring that a power struggle between Gill and Rutledge supporters had paralyzed decision-making and imperiled contract negotiations for many of the local's 10,000 members.

This time, the political power ratio changed. Gill's slate of candidates yesterday won 12 of the 15 seats on the executive board, overturning the majority control that Rutledge supporters previously had held.

Gill, speaking to reporters last night, said the election results should put an end to the former stalemate and make past political schisms secondary to the union's pressing need to prepare for new contract talks.

"It's only the politicians who have been arguing, not the members," he said. "They want unity. They're going to demand it, and they're going to get it."

•	Local 5 election Financial secretary-treasurer Eric Gill 2,527 Tony Rutledge 2,506 Estan Reynon 256 President Orlando Soriano 2,815 Arlene Ilae 2,287 Senior vice president Hernando Ramos Tan 2,418 Kaui Akana 2,371 William Mina 282 Executive board Godfrey Maeshiro Lito Rigor Juliet Spencer Veronica Basconcillo Carol Woo Chris Ramos

"I hope to work with (Tony) again, but that's going to be his choice," Gill said.

Rutledge said yesterday, however, that things aren't that simple. Whether he backs Gill, he said, will depend on how well he performs in his second try as financial secretary-treasurer.

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."

Gill was on hand during the late-afternoon ballot counting in a meeting room at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i. When the final vote tally was tacked to a wall, the tall candidate bent down to accept a lei and victory hugs from his campaign supporters.

Gill's campaign centered on winning the favor of the local's Filipino workers, who represent a majority of the membership. Nearly all of those who ran alongside Gill were Filipino Americans, and a few happily chanted "people power!" in a reference to mass political movements in the Philippines.

Rutledge arrived about an hour after the final tally to quickly congratulate Gill and others, including Sherri Chiesa, the internationally appointed trustee who ran the elections.

Chiesa said the local has no choice now but to work as a group if it wants to protect members' benefits in the face of upcoming contract talks.

The election results, though, revealed the deep split in allegiances that has characterized the local in the past few years.

In the last election for the top union post early last year, Gill defeated Rutledge by just 39 votes.

Yesterday, with more than 5,300 ballots cast, Gill received 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.

Soriano and Tan ran on Gill's ticket, giving their slate the top three executive posts. For Soriano, who had been a Rutledge backer until last year, it was his sixth straight winning bid.

The vote counting system yesterday was designed to be transparent, with computer monitors aimed out so the 40 to 50 observers on hand could monitor the process.

"We want to make sure there just isn't any question," said John Seibel, president of Trueballot Inc., the Bethesda, Md.-company that was brought in to do an electronic tally.

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.