Representative Marcus Oshiro, “This sign (Together We Stand) says it all. We are one community of workers. We’re one community of people and we need to come together and stand as one because the labor union right here benefits all of us.

If they can get a fair contract; if they can sit down and get a fair deal with the Pacific Beach Hotel, it will benefit all of us, all our communities and all the constituents will see the benefits. So I encourage all of you workers out there, work hard and we’ll do what we can to support your efforts.”

Representative Marilyn Lee, “I’m happy to have the opportunity to come here today to help support the worker. Many of you actually helped build the tourism industry— you’ve been here for over 20 years—and we have a responsibility to come here and support you, and we’ll do everything we can to help. We want to tell you to hang in there, and keep up the fight.”

Representative Hermina Morita, “Aloha from Kauai, your brothers and sisters from Kauai support you to. My daughter is an ILWU member at the Princeville Hotel that was recently organized.

These companies need to understand that we sell the Aloha spirit, we bring out the Aloha spirit, and when our workers are worried about their job security, how can they give Aloha to our visitors here? So these companies better wake up that the only way we can perpetuate this Aloha is when we have security for all our workers. Thank you, we support you, and know that Kauai is behind you.”

“These companies better wake up that the only way we can perpetuate this Aloha is when we have security for all our workers,” said Kauai Representative Hermina Morita.

Senator Clarence Nishihara told the Honolulu Weekly, “It seems like all they want to do is break the union," says Senator Clarence Nishihara, chair of the Tourism and Government Operations Committee.

“If the corporation has enough money to ride it out, the one taking the beating is the worker. They have to go back to work to support their families. It really puts them between a rock and a hard place.”

“Keep the courage up--I give you all the credit for doing this (standing up for workers’ rights),” said Senator Clarence Nishihara to the workers of the Pacific Beach Hotel.

Representative Angus McKelvey, “I’m going to come at this from a totally different angle, and that this is bad for business. This is anti-business what is going on. When workers are treated well, when they earn a living wage, they share the Aloha spirit as my colleague from Kauai said. And that in turn gives visitors a good feeling and they come back.

We are competing against destinations all around the world, and when you have this kind of stuff going on, where you have a woman who collapses after working 19 rooms, it leaves a bad taste in people’s mouth. They don’t want to come back. This is going to hurt our economy. This is not good for business.

What’s good for workers is good for business, and that’s what made Hawaii the leader in the world in the visitor industry. Look at all the other hotels around here who have contracts with workers who are sharing the Aloha spirit. This is not the norm; this is a very bad exception to the rule. So workers, keep going, know we are supporting you, and know that you are supporting business. This is a good thing.”

“We will not go away. We will continue to be witness to this injustice until justice is realized for all of these workers,” said Representative Della Bellatti.

Representative Della Belatti, “Mahalo and Aloha to our visitors. I want to share with you a little bit of history about this place.

Hawaii was built on the workers. It was built by people like Jack Hall (an ILWU leader), who talked about being rebels in paradise and fighting for working families

I come from union stock and I’m proud to continue to have brothers and sisters in the union.

This is about fair treatment. That’s all they are asking for under the National Labor Relations Act.

They want a fair negotiations. They do not want to be terminated simply for organizing according to their rights.

So we are here to share with the people of this nation and of this world, that Hawaii is a place that will treat its workers fairly.

To the management of the Pacific Beach Hotel, to the management of Pagoda, please know that these legislators, as the representative from Waikiki said, stand strongly and stand together with the union. And we will not go away.

We will continue to be witness to this injustice until justice is realized for all of these workers and for all of the workers of Hawaii. Mahalo.”

“What’s good for workers is good for business,” said Maui Representative Angus McKelvey.

Representative Scott Nishimoto, “I actually represent part of Waikiki. We just got done with a long [legislative] session yesterday and a lot of us did battle, but the fact that we are all here, that you could get this many legislators who have very different views on a lot of things is evidence of the unfairness that is going on in this hotel. We want the workers to know that we are behind them and we’ll do anything we can to support them. But it is really incredible to get this many members here from so many different islands, from so many different viewpoints. That really is evidence of how unfairly the workers are being treated here.”

Representative Tommy Waters, “Aloha everybody, I’m Tommy Waters from Waimanalo and Kailua. I’m so happy to be here with you guys today. I’m so proud to see the ILWU out here.

I say this and I hope you agree with me. Labor and workers are the backbone of our community and the backbone of our economy. And you know what happens without one backbone, right? You fall to the ground and you slither away.

What upsets me is that this hotel is not appreciating its workers—and when it fired people who worked here after 20 plus years, people who have families, people who have to feed their kids, who have to put shoes on their kid’s feet, all of a sudden they didn’t have a job. That’s not acceptable, that’s not right. I support you 110%.”

“Labor and workers are the backbone of our community and economy” said Representative Tommy Waters.

Representative Jon Riki Karamatsu, “The word is heard around Hawaii that we support our workers and we need to see more collaboration between management and their employees. That’s what we are trying to do right here. So keep up the good work.”