The simmering labor dispute at Pacific Beach Hotel emerged in a public way yesterday at a rally outside the Waikiki hotel where union organizers displayed a petition of support from people in Japan that had more than 64,000 signatures.

Hotel management said the union's tactics will hurt Hawai'i, tourism and the workers still employed there.

Dave Mori, O'ahu director for the ILWU Local 142, was among about 100 people rallying on the first anniversary of more than two dozen workers losing their jobs.

The labor dispute at the Pacific Beach Hotel has been going on for several years. The National Labor Relations Board is considering the matter and heard the union's side in November. The board will hear from management next month.

Hotel regional vice president of operations Robert "Mick" Minicola said the union was trying to put the company out of business.

"The union's campaign to discourage Japanese tourism is an affront to the entire visitor industry and all of Hawai'i," Minicola said.

Mori said the union has been careful to specify that the suggested boycott is only the Pacific Beach Hotel. But he said some Japanese people could be discouraged from all of Hawai'i because of the message. "That's a concern," Mori said.

Minicola said the NLRB "is adjudicating our dispute with the union as stipulated by federal law, and that's where it belongs. The union's tactics are a sideshow and have no place in the process-driven resolution of our differences."