BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hotel, union agree on contract
Advertiser Staff
A hotel workers union and owners of the Holiday Inn Waikiki hotel have reached a tentative two-year contract agreement covering 47 hotel workers.
The deal was reached July 9 and is subject to employee ratification. The old contract with UNITE HERE Local 5 expired in December 2006 and employees have been working on an extension.
The tentative settlement includes improvements to housekeeping workloads, continued funding of premium-free medical coverage, a $2.50 hourly wage increase over the duration of the contract, a 15 percent increase in hourly pension contributions, and double-time sick leave pay for tipped employees.
Local 5 officials said the contract brings employees at the smaller 198-room hotel on par with workers at the larger Waikiki properties.
The Holiday Inn Waikiki is owned by Dynasty Hotels of Hawaii, a subsidiary of China Airlines.
HOKU SCIENTIFIC MAY SELL BUILDING
Hoku Scientific Inc., the Kapolei-based clean energy technology company, said it has an agreement to sell its 14,000 square-foot facility at Campbell Industrial Park to the Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3, pending a number of contingencies, including the union selling its building in Honolulu.
Hoku last year said it was exploring a sale of its headquarters, manufacturing and research facility, along with the 99,000 square feet of land it sits on. Hoku said it will disclose terms of the transaction when it announces its quarterly financial report later this week.
BANKOH EXPANDS ATM NETWORK
Bank of Hawaii said its ATM network is being expanded to include 31 Aloha Petroleum Island Mini-Mart stations beginning in August.
The bank said it had reached an agreement with Aloha Petroleum Ltd. The gasoline retailer said adding the service is in keeping with its vision of providing convenience for customers.
Bank of Hawaii said it has the largest network of ATMs in the state.
MORE EMPLOYEES USING MARIJUANA
Employees testing positive for marijuana use continued on an upward trend in the second quarter of the year, according to statistics released by Diagnostic Laboratory Services.
From April through June, 2.5 percent of the drug tests conducted on workers tested positive for marijuana, the report said. In the first quarter of the year, 2.3 percent tested positive, while a little more than 1.5 percent of the tests came back positive in the second quarter of 2007, the report said.
Drug use in other categories remained stable, the report said.
"There's a slight uptick in opiate use, but cocaine use is slightly down," said Carl Linden, DLS scientific director of toxicology. "While amphetamine use remains the same at a relatively low percentage of 0.6 percent, it is still roughly three times higher here than on the Mainland."
STATE FARM LOWERS AUTO RATES AGAIN
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the No. 2 auto insurer in Hawai'i, said it had lowered rates here for the sixth time in seven years.
The average premium was reduced 5.4 percent yesterday, State Farm said. The lower premiums come as personal injury protection coverage fell, while collision coverage is also declining, the company said. Individual premium changes will vary depending on drivers, cars and miles driven.
