In the afternoon session, the Tourism Caucus focused on how to prepare for negotiations. Officers from two hotel units—the Hilton Waikoloa Village and the Hyatt Regency Maui— explained what they are doing to organize and mobilize their members.
Hilton Waikoloa Village
The Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Island of Hawaii is one of the ILWU’s largest hotels with close to 700 members. Their union contract expires in September 2013, but the unit has already begun to organize and mobilize their members.
Hawaii Island Business Agent Corinna Salmo explained how they started. “We had a lot of holes in our unit structure. We worked to fill them with stewards and mobilizers.”
“Stewarding had no union stewards so I picked two stewards and one mobilizer,” said Dallas HolesoKuhaiki from culinary. “I’m the only steward in Culinary. Now we have two more stewards and one mobilizer. We meet twice a month.”
Dallas explained how she recruited people. “When I ask people to volunteer as a steward or mobilizer, they tell me they don’t want to come to meetings or talk in front of people. I tell them don’t worry, I’ll go to the meetings and fill you in on what’s happening. You can sit back and chill. You only need to talk to the people in your department.”
“We do ‘tunnel talks’,” said Janice Barrios and Wesley Martinez from the Front Office and Concierge departments. “We talk to people, ask them what is happening, and explain things to them. We use the unit bulletin as a source of information. We post the names and departments of the Unit Officers on the union bulletin board.”
The Hilton Waikoloa has three towers connected by long underground tunnels where workers walk to different parts of the hotel, and electric carts move laundry, food, and other supplies from the central area to the outside towers.
Freda Ezzo from the Laundry Department spoke from years of experience. “Always listen to your membership,” said Freda. The hotel also gives her time to talk to the housekeepers during the morning briefings.
Hyatt Regency Maui
The Hyatt Regency Maui is one of the larger ILWU hotels with a membership of over 600. Their union contract expires in September 2012.
Maui Business Agent Abel Kahoohanohano organized the Hyatt Maui by bringing in good people to fill vacant positions in the unit. “Look for people who have the run of the hotel such as maintenance and banquets,” he advised. “Our contract expires in September 2012 and we began to prepare for negotiations by raising unit dues from $1.50 to $2.50 a month. We cashed a $32,000 certificate of deposit. By the time we begin to negotiate, we should have a war chest of $50,000. We hold meetings every month and they spread the word to everyone in the hotel,” said Abel.
“Talk to your unit officers first and they will spread it out to other people,” added unit chair Cyrus Kodani. “We are doing something for the future— we want to leave future generations something. We identify leaders in each department. We target leaders and get them involved. We take two unit officers every month and sit on the loading dock to talk to people and sign new hires on the union membership form. We raised unit dues. We didn’t know if it would be approved—we thought maybe a large group of people who opposed the increase would come out and vote against it. But we explained why we needed a dues increase and our members voted to pass the increase. This sent a strong message to the hotel that we are prepared to fight for the long-run in these negotiations,” said Cyrus.
Ron Johnson comes from Michigan from a union family. One of his grandfathers worked in the auto industry and was a member of the United Auto Workers union. The other grandfather worked for the railroads.
Unit 1517 - Hilton Waikoloa Village steward Dallas Holeso-Kuhaiki explains how she recruits stewards and mobilizers for the Hilton’s culinary department. (L-r) Janice Barrios, Wesley Martinez, Holeso-Kuhaiki, and Business Agent Corinna Salmo.
“Political Action is very important,” Ron stressed. “We need to tell the politicians to work for the people and not for big business and the big bankers on Wall Street. We need politicians to know now what it takes to have fairness in the workplace.”
Go back to your Units
Local President Isaac Fiesta, Jr. told the tourism delegates to take what they learned back to their units. “The Local gave you the tools and will support you. The next step is up to you. Go back to your units and share what you’ve learned here with your members. Educate your members about the importance of taking care of our pensions, of the health and welfare fund, and the retiree medical. Organize your units and prepare for negotiations.”
(Above right) Unit 2509 - Four Seasons Resort Lanai Chairperson Joe Felipe (with unit officers Priscilla Felipe and Linda Fernandez) asks that caucus members support Castle & Cooke’s wind energy project in order to protect tourism industry jobs on Lanai.
