Local 5 election gets 3rd candidate
By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer
Saying that ethnic Filipino members of his union have been "used and abused" too often in previous elections, a third candidate has entered the high-profile race for the top post in the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 5.
Estan Reynon, 54, said yesterday he will run against rivals Eric Gill and Tony Rutledge in the July 6 election for the job of financial secretary-treasurer of the local.
A parking attendant at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Reynon competed against the same candidates in the union's March 2000 election, when Gill narrowly beat Rutledge. In that election, Gill won 42 percent of the vote, Rutledge 41 percent and Reynon 17 percent.
Reynon said his grassroots campaign will appeal to the union's 11,000 members —Êthe majority of whom are of Filipino ancestry — to give the politically troubled union a new start.
He filed nomination papers prior to the union's Thursday night nomination meeting to qualify for the election, said Sherri Chiesa, the union's appointed trustee.
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 11,000-member local union.
Both Gill and Rutledge called press conferences in the past week to declare their candidacies, each seeking election mandates to resolve their power struggle. Reynon entered the race with no public fanfare, saying he would probably pay out of his own pocket for campaign leaflets.
Reynon said, however, that he would confront anyone who suggests that he entered the race to dilute the Filipino turnout. "I don't align myself with anybody," he said. "I have my own principles."
One key principle, he insisted, is that the union leadership should be in touch with all of its workers, not simply those of Filipino background. He said all of the candidates in his 10-person slate are "eight-hour workers" who want to improve a union tarnished by mismanagement and political turmoil.
Allegations that he would split the Filipino vote simply reveal how the ethnic group has been manipulated, he said. Rather than drawing votes away from others, he said, he intends to draw enough votes to win.
Reynon's running mates for the two other key leadership posts are William Mina, a candidate for senior vice president, and Rodrigo Castro for president.
Castro's application was rejected Thursday on grounds that he had not remained a member in good standing for the past two years. Reynon and Castro are appealing that local edict, arguing that Castro, a 30-year dues payer, was away from work last year after suffering serious injuries in a traffic accident.
Chiesa said 88 candidates are running for 11 positions in the union leadership. The posts involve the three top spots and eight seats on the executive board.
