A long awaited decision by the National Labor Relations Board has brought Pacific Beach Hotel workers one step closer to justice.

The labor board’s Region 20 director issued a complaint against HTH Corporation on August 29, 2008, charging the company with numerous and serious violations of US labor law. HTH owns the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki and the Pagoda Hotel on Rycroft Street, mauka of the Ala Moana Center.

The 33-page document contains a long list of charges which details unlawfully firing and discriminating against employees for their union activities; refusing to bargain in good faith with the ILWU; making unilateral changes in working conditions without bargaining with the union; unlawfully interfering with the right of employees to form and support a union; making overly restrictive house rules to discourage union activities; and illegal surveillance of employees.

Hearings before an NLRB administrative law judge are scheduled to begin on November 4, 2008, at the Prince Kuhio Federal Building in Honolulu.

The Hawaii NLRB will present its case and will also seek an injunction which will require HTH to immediately comply with the law, even if the company appeals to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington D.C.

HTH has appealed similar charges by the NLRB in 2002 and 2005. The NLRB rejected the appeals.

By willfully delaying the process, HTH management has shown no respect for the law or regard for the rights of its employees.

This bad behavior of HTH owners is why the ILWU has urged Japan and the Hawaii community to boycott the Pacific Beach and Pagoda hotels.

As consumers, we can choose where to spend our money. Until HTH Corporation shows it will obey the law, we should refuse to stay at either hotel or eat at any of their restaurants.

Boycotts: social justice through peaceful means

Boycotts are democratic, peaceful, and a respected form of protest

All of us are consumers and we are free to choose where we spend our money. We can choose to support a cleaner environment by buying goods made from recycled materials. We can choose to support Hawaii farmers by buying local produce. We can choose to support justice for workers by not giving our business to bad employers such as the Pacific Beach Hotel.

The practice of boycotting got its name from a British land agent, Captain Charles Cunningman Boycott (1832–97). Irish tenants on the estate of Lord Erne in County Mayo asked for rent reductions and refused to pay their full rents. Mr. Boycott ordered their eviction from their farms and homes in 1880.

Irish nationalist leader, Charles Stewart Parnell urged everyone to refuse all communication with Mr. Boycott and to avoid any dealings with his family. The policy was successful and Mr. Boycott was forced to give up the evictions and leave. The practice of not communicating, supporting, or cooperating with a person or company became known as boycotting.

Famous boycotts in our times Colonial America - 1770: Refusal to buy British goods. After the British imposed taxes on tea and other imported goods to the American colonies, the colonists responded by refusing to buy British goods or deal with local merchants who sold British goods. The boycott decreased British trade, and in 1770 most of the British Acts were repealed.

Mahatma Gandi - 1930: March to the Sea: In March 1930 Gandhi led a boycott of commercial salt. He encouraged Indian people to defy the British colonial government by refusing to buy salt (which had a government tax attached) and instead making their own salt from sea water. These efforts would eventually lead to India’s independence from British colonial rule.

Martin Luther King - 1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks, a 43-year-old black woman, refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Her arrest led to a massive boycott by black citizens of the Montgomery public bus system organized by a then relativelyunknown Martin Luther King, Jr. For months, people walked, cycled or shared private cars to get around Montgomery. The boycott helped end segregation and discrimination against blacks and the movement for civil rights expanded across the United States.

Ceasar Chavez - 1960s: Grape Boycott: Boycotts organized by Ceasar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union brought attention to the plight of migrant workers who tried to organize into unions to improve their conditions. Grape growers were ruthless in opposing the workers efforts to unionize. American consumers responded by refusing to buy grapes. The boycott ended when growers began to accept the union and signed contracts which improved the conditions of migrant workers. 

Nelson Mandela - 1980/90s: Anti-Apartheid Boycotts: Public outrage pressured many nations and companies to refuse financial dealings with South Africa because of that country’s racist “apartheid” policy of unequal treatment and keeping blacks separated from white people. The economic pressure led to the collaspe of the racist South African government and the abolition of apartheid.

Today, boycotts are used by unions to educate the public about companies that do not deserve our business.

Gay & Robinson to quit growing sugar

Gay & Robinson (G&R) on Kauai, one of the oldest sugar companies in Hawaii, announced its intention to quit the sugar business. The rising cost of diesel fuel and a big increase in the cost of fertilizer made it financially impossible for the company to continue to farm sugar cane.

The company plans to expand its hydroelectric operation and is looking into producing energy or fuel from plant material or biomass.

G&R has stopped planting and has laid off 40 workers. The company intends to harvest the present sugar crop which would employ some workers until 2010.

As workers are permanently laid off, they will receive separation pay as provided under the union contract. There are about 180 ILWU members employed by the plantation.

The ILWU is negotiating with Gay & Robinson over the details of the phase out, what will happen with the plantation housing, and the company’s plans for the future.

While the arrangements have not been finalized, both Gay & Robinson and Pacific West Energy have announced plans to use G&R equipment, mill and sugar lands to produce up to 12 million gallons of ethanol a year from sugarcane.

At this point, there is no timetable on when and even if this would happen. The ILWU is pressing both companies for more information and will keep G&R members informed of any new developments. 

Maui’s HC&S has no plans to quit sugar.