(Above left) The ILWU gave away 1,500 hot dogs at the Oahu Labor Day Unity Picnic at the Waikiki Shell on September 4, 2011. (Above right) Kauai members celebrated Labor Day with a fishing tournament and get-together on September 11, 2011 (l-r) Clayton Silva, retired Business Agent Jesus Guirao, and retired Division Director Clayton Dela Cruz.

Sponsored by the Building Trades Council, the Labor Day Unity Picnic was held at the Waikiki Shell on Sunday, September 4 from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The Labor Day Unity Picnic honored and supported the contributions of Hawaii’s unions and public state and county workers.

This year’s event drew about 7,500 union members and their families. The day featured everything for free—food, entertainment, games, kid’s activities and a shuttle bus from the Kapiolani Community College parking lot. While the event was free, event goers were asked to bring canned food to donate to the Hawaii Food Bank.

Live music included Natural High, Straight Up, H-Trey, Mana‘o Company, S.I. Ladies, Mz. Royalty, Kapena, and Koa‘uka.

About 250 ILWU members and their families came to enjoy the event. The Oahu Division members, full-time officers, Hawaii Office Workers Union (HOWU) members and Local staff were able to share the day with members who came from Wahiawa General Hospital, Straub, Kaiser, Foodland Super Market, Love’s Bakery, Hawaii Logistics, Turtle Bay Golf, Dole Food Company, the longshore industry, and other ILWU companies.

A very special thanks to those who volunteered the day before, and to those who cooked and transported the hot dogs to Waikiki Shell on the day of the picnic. Rolando Espanto, a member from Hawaii Logistics, and his family have been volunteering for the past two years.

Four Bouslog Scholarship recipients, Tatiana Espanto, Noah Kawano, Tyler Katagiri and Matthew Shinsato also answered the call and pitched in to wrap hot dogs and hand out Love’s Bakery leaflets.

The Harriet Bouslog Labor Scholarship can help ILWU families fund a college education for their children. A labor lawyer, Harriet worked for the ILWU and fought to establish fair labor laws and social justice for the people of Hawaii in the 1940s to 1970s.

The Bouslog Labor Scholarship was established by the late Harriet Bouslog and her husband Stephen Sawyer, specifically to benefit ILWU families and to encourage attendance at the University of Hawaii. The four recipients coming to help hand out hotdogs is an example of the strength of community the ILWU shares with their members and families.

The Oahu Division also operated two children’s games and gave Love’s Bakery products as prizes. Love’s Bakery leaflets were handed out to fellow union members and their families asking for their support by buying local bread baked and sold fresh by union members.

Most people don’t know that half the sliced, sandwich-style bread sold throughout the islands is baked and frozen on the mainland, shipped to Hawaii then thawed out before being sold in stores.

This Labor Day Unity Picnic allowed union members to meet with each other and see how they could support fellow union members in state and local governments or through their personal purchasing power, by buying union made products, like that of Love’s Bakery.

UNITE HERE boycotts Hyatt Regency Waikiki Hotel

UNITE HERE Local 5 struck the Waikiki Hyatt Regency Hotel for seven days from September 8-14, 2011. UNITE HERE struck five other Hyatt Hotels in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco at the same time and are calling for a boycott of these Hyatt properties. ILWU members and staff on Oahu joined the picket lines in solidarity from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. each day.

UNITE HERE has already reached agreements with the Hilton and Starwood chains. The Hyatt has agreed to match the economic terms of the contract but is refusing to agree to limit subcontracting. On the Mainland, Hyatt subcontracts as many as 10 percent of their workers—including housekeepers and food & beverage workers from employment agencies such as Hospitality Staffing Solutions.

The boycott does not include the Hyatt Regency Maui and the Grand Hyatt Kauai, both of which have contracts with the ILWU.

ILWU members and officers walked the picket line in front of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki in support of UNITE HERE Local 5 members who struck the hotel for seven days from September 8 to 14, 2011.

ILWU Unit 4409 - Island Movers Unit Treasurer Eddie Sekigawa, Business Agent Michael Yamaguchi, and negotiating committee member James De Jesus show support for Local 5 hotelworkers.