Hotel talks snag

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Negotiations between the hotel workers' union and managers representing six major Waikiki hotels broke off with little progress early yesterday morning.

	What's at stake in dispute
•	Union: Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 5, AFL-CIO.
•	Action: Work stoppage scheduled tomorrow.
•	Effect: 5,000 workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Hyatt Regency Waikiki, Sheraton-Waikiki, Sheraton Princess Ka'iulani, Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Moana Surfrider.
•	The issues: Employees covered by the Master Hotel Agreement, the biggest single hotel labor contract, have been working without a contract since March 2000. Subcontracting, wages and benefits are at issue.
•	What's next: Union and hotels meet today at 2 p.m. As of this morning, a work stoppage meeting was scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. If there is no deal, union officials said a strike-authorization vote may be taken at that meeting. Workers could strike as early as Tuesday.

Talks ended at 2 a.m. yesterday with union officials saying no progress had been made on key issues, including subcontracting and salaries.

"We're hoping we can reach an agreement," said Keith Vieira, senior vice president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Hawai'i, which operates four Sheraton hotels that would be affected. "Our goal is to get it settled before midnight."

Vieira said he was optimistic that a deal could be reached.

Union leaders were hopeful but not as optimistic yesterday. They raised the possibility that a work stoppage could be averted if an agreement is reached quickly enough today. They had not called it off last night, however.

A lengthy recorded message on the union's hot line yesterday told members of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 5 to plan on attending a 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.

"If your shift starts at 12 a.m. through 11 p.m. on May 7th, do not report to work," the recording said. "Instead, be at the stop-work meeting. ... If you really care, you will be there and do whatever it takes to obtain the best for yourself and your family."

The six hotels represented in the negotiations are Royal Hawaiian, Sheraton-Waikiki, Sheraton Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Prin-cess Ka'iulani, Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa, and the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort and Spa.

The threat of a work stoppage and possible strike that could snarl Waikiki, inconvenience thousands of tourists and damage local businesses comes a little more than a week after teachers and professors settled their own contracts and ended a strike that closed public schools and universities for 20 days and cost the state millions of dollars.

The work stoppage also could coincide with the start of the Asian Development Bank conference, which begins Wednesday. Thousands of executives and finance ministers from around the world are scheduled to attend, many staying at hotels that would be affected.

Tony Rutledge, president of Unity House and a member of the Local 5 contract negotiations team, said yesterday that Friday's talks ended at 2 a.m. yesterday on a note of frustration.

"We were optimistic earlier on," he said. "Then they gave us a written response, and it was a night-and-day difference. We told them to call when they got serious."

The call from Richard Rand of the management negotiations team came shortly after 2:30 yesterday afternoon, requesting the meeting today.

Repeated calls to Rand were not returned yesterday.

Rutledge said the union had presented a proposal to management Friday offering some concessions on salary raises and starting salaries for new hires. "If we don't give a little on wages, we're not bargaining in good faith," he said.

Before negotiations began Friday, the union, which has been working under a contract extension for more than a year, was asking for a 5 percent raise across the board in each of the proposed contract's three years and increased benefits for its members.

Union officials say a record number of visitors gave hotels a profitable year in 2000. Hotel owners have said a projected slowdown in the state's economy and stagnant visitor arrivals mean they likely cannot afford to pay what the unions are seeking.

The union that represents about 11,000 hotel employees statewide already has rejected at least one contract proposed by management since discussions started last year.

Dozens of other hotel labor agreements at other properties around the state also have expired or about to, but talks mostly have been on hold. Many see the hotel master agreement as a bellwether indicating what other properties will pay their union employees.

The sticking point in negotiations, Rutledge said, is over the use of subcontractors, a practice favored by the hotels and opposed by the union. Subcontracting allows hotels to hire non-union workers for some jobs.

"Subcontracting is the main thing," Rutledge said. "And they don't seem to understand that the main thing is the main thing."

Rutledge said that if an agreement is reached in time, the union could decide to hold ratification meetings during non-working hours rather than hold a work stoppage meeting tomorrow.

Unity House, a nonprofit set up by Rutledge's father to support Local 5 and other union members, has announced that it will provide a strike fund to match money payed out by the union, up to $2 million.

Rutledge, in addition to leading Unity House, led Local 5 until he was ousted from the top spot in elections last year by Eric Gill. In February, Gill was removed from his position when national union leadership put Local 5 in trusteeship, following an internal dispute between Rutledge and Gill supporters.

Sherri Chiesa, the union's Western regional director and trustee for Local 5, put both men on her negotiations team.

"When I got here, I said this (negotiating a contract) is going to be my focus, and when I leave, then they can concentrate on their election campaigns," she said. "Both men have been cooperating fully. We're in lockstep. Personally, I think we have a pretty good team."

Some familiar with the negotiations said yesterday that the hotel management team is developing splits, seemingly over the issue of subcontracting. "I think we are working well together," Vieira said. "But it is inappropriate for me to speak on certain matters."

Chiesa said she had not noticed any divisions at the negotiations table.

Chiesa said that if negotiations proceed quickly enough, tomorrow's work stoppage could be called off tonight. Union "telephone tree" notification systems could be activated, and information dispersed to the Waikiki hotels. Members are encouraged to call the local at 941-2141.

If a settlement is reached without enough time to notify the membership, the details will be presented at the meeting tomorrow, Chiesa said. If no agreement is reached, a strike authorization vote could be taken instead.