Posted on: Saturday, August 31, 2002

Rival revives Gill charges

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

With the hotel workers union poised on the brink of a strike, former union leader Anthony "Tony" Rutledge filed a federal lawsuit yesterday demanding that the union's international chapter look into charges lodged against current Local 5 leader Eric Gill more than two years ago.

Attorney Michael Green, who filed the lawsuit in behalf of Rutledge and more than a dozen of his supporters, held a press conference at his office to accuse various officers of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union of deliberately ignoring complaints brought by the Hawai'i affiliate.

The lawsuit claims the international chapter, headquartered in Washington, D.C., failed to adequately investigate and adjudicate complaints that Gill improperly paid himself and others without approval from the local union's executive board.

The complaints also alleged that Gill improperly used the union's newspaper to further his own ends, refused to hold meetings on the Neighbor Islands and violated the union's code of ethics by coercing members into approving a prior collective bargaining agreement.

Gill, who has denied the allegations in the past, did not respond yesterday to a request to comment on the lawsuit or other criticisms members of the union's bargaining committee made at the press conference.

John Wilhelm, general president of the union's international affiliate and other members of the international and its public review board who were named in the lawsuit, could not be reached yesterday to comment.

Bargaining committee members who attended the press conference claimed that Gill is not keeping the rank and file informed of management positions on negotiated items, including a willingness by the owners of the Sheraton Waikiki and Hilton Hawaiian Village to extend the existing contract for two years.

Green said that when Local 5 members voted recently to authorize a strike, "they did not know all the circumstances, including management's position that if they did walk, they could never come back."

Green said the lawsuit asks the federal court here for an order directing the international union to formally resolve the complaints that were brought against Gill.

In addition, the lawsuit requests that a trustee be appointed to immediately to oversee the affairs of Local 5.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.