A line of gold ILWU T-shirts 
lined the side of the road 
as far as they eye could see on 
Ala Moana Boulevard from the 
entrance of the beach park and into
Waikīkī as hundreds of Local 142 
members in attendance at the 30th 
Local Convention marched to join 
UNITE HERE! Local 5 members 
at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for a 
display of powerful labor unity.

The dual-union march on the 
Hilton took place in September, just 
after Local 5 members’ three-day 
warning strike but  prior to the 40
day strike that they conducted soon 
after. 

300 ILWU members marched 
to the HHV and were met by 
picketing Local 5 members. 
Together, the two unions marched 
through the grounds of the hotel, 
chanting loudly through shopping 
areas, past the restaurants and 
pools, across the beach, and finally 
converging to pack the hotel lobby 
where hundreds of rank-and-file 
members thundered chants of 
worker power for a 20-minute rally. 

Two unions unite in the fight
The Hilton Hawaiian Village is 
the most profitable Hilton hotel on 
earth. The other Hawaiʻi Hiltons 
in Waikoloa on the Big Island, and 
the Grand Wailea, on Maui, follow 
closely behind. At the time of the 
march and rally, the Hilton was 
stagnating in negotiations both at 
the HHV and at the Grand Wailea.    

ILWU President Chris West 
spoke at the action rally to 
members of both unions. “The 
corporations, they like to see 
us separated, they like to see us 
fighting each other. But when we’re 
fighting ourselves, they win. This is 
the start of us joining together. Not 
as Local 5, not as the ILWU, but as 
working-class people in the state of 
Hawaiʻi.”

The convention afforded 
International ILWU leaders to 
attend the march and rally as well. 
President Willie Adams, Vice 
President Robert Olivera Jr., and 
Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris 
enthusiastically marched alongside 
the rank-and-file members. 

Also in attendance was Rob 
Aston, National President of ILWU 
Canada. Aston highlighted the 
contract fight that UNITE HERE! 
Local 40 members were fighting for 
in Vancouver B.C. “The struggles 
that you’re going through as hotel     

workers is not just about 
hotel workers. Its about 
the working class here in 
Hawaiʻi, across the Unit
ed States, Canada and 
worldwide. Because what 
we’re in the middle of is 
a class war!” 

At the closing rally, Local 
5 Bellman, Gerritt Vin
cent spoke to the crowd, 
echoing the sentiments 
of the leaders and em
phasizing the stakes for 
all working people in 
Hawai’i. “This fight isn’t 
over. This fight is im
portant because this fight 
is gonna keep us on the 
land we were born in, on the 
land we choose to live in. It’s 
gonna keep my kids in Hawai’i, it’s 
gonna keep our families together.”

Local 142 members felt the 
power of the solidarity action as 
well. Kaleo Kalawaiʻa works in Cu
linary at the Grand Wailea Resort 
in Maui. “The feeling of the march 
on the Hilton Hawaiian Village - of 
hundreds of individuals giving the 
same power to support each other - 
made me feel how powerful it is to 
be a part of the ILWU. It made me 
even more proud to be a part of the 
ILWU, what we represent and what 
we stand for.”

Since the rally, Local 5 settled 
their contract with the Hilton 
Hawaiian Village but only after a 
40-day strike compelled the com
pany to negotiate seriously. ILWU 
members at the Grand Wailea Maui 
also settled their contract in Octo
ber, also under the threat of a strike.