Posted at 12:30 p.m., Monday, May 7, 2001

Hotel union deal puts end to concern over serving ADB guests

• Hotel worker deal averts strike in time for ADB meeting

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hotel managers and their union employees breathed a sigh of relief today after a tentative contract agreement ended a work stoppage.

In most cases, at the six hotels affected, employees were at work.

"We're doing fine," said Paul Tang, general manager of the

Hyatt Regency Waikiki. "A lot of employees showed up for work."

It was feared the work stoppage by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 5, AFL-CIO, could escalate into a strike just as Waikiki hotels were full of guests attending the Asian Development Bank summit.

About 5,000 employees at Hyatt, Sheraton and Hilton hotels would have been affected. Neither managment nor union officials would discuss details of the contract, although the practice of subcontracting union work to nonunion workers was addressed.

Tang said the situation was tense over the weekend. About 700 workers at the Hyatt would have left their jobs.

"Any time you go into a potential strike situation, everybody loses," he said. "When something happens like that, the employees get hurt. Whatever they lose, they don't get back. The hotel gets hurt and the industry gets hurt."

Both sides reached a tentative agreement at 3:45 a.m. today. Tang said he didn't get home until 6 a.m. but was back at work by 8:30 a.m.

Once the agreement was reached, hotel and union officials began calling workers at home, Tang said. The work stoppage was scheduled to start at midnight, but the early hour prevented guests from experiencing problems.

"Once the agreement was reached, both sides made every effort to reach the employees," Tang said. "The union sent people to the front of the hotel so employees wouldn't be confused, and told them to go to work."

Nearly 2,500 employees at four Sheraton hotels would have been affected. Operations ran smoothly, however, said Keith Vieira, senior vice president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i, which manages the four Sheraton hotels.

"We didn't have any major problems this morning," Vieira said. "It should get better throughout the day. By this afternoon it should be up to full force."

The union has been working under a contract extension for more than a year. Dozens of other labor agreements at other properties around the state also have expired or are about to, but talks mostly have been on hold. Many see this hotel master agreement as a bellwether indicating what other properties will pay their union employees.

Mike Gordon can be reached by phone at 525-8012, or by e-mail at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com