...reopening this fall as the `Alohilani Resort at Waikiki Beach’

HONOLULU -- Renovations at Pacific Beach Hotel started March of last year and the whole unit stayed open for business. The workers and the union have been working together to ensure fairness and continuity amidst all the changes to the property.

“We can speak up, and our voices matter,” said newly elected unit chair Alanna Kuhn, addressing members in the housekeeping department. On April 23, 2017, Kuhn distributed ILWU pins to each of the departments -- banquets, front desk, housekeeping and maintenance -- to express union pride and solidarity

Unit Chair Alanna Kuhn putting an ILWU pin on housekeeping member Juliana Lista.

Union of America in the 1960s, declared that housekeepers, nannies, and in-home caregivers had built the nation from “the sweat of their brow” as surely as their parents had by working in the fields. Nearly half a million people work as housekeepers in hotels nationwide, about 90 percent of them women.” -- from an article in The Nation, “Housekeepers versus Harvard: Feminism in the Age of Trump”

It is not easy to clean up after people on vacation.

But that’s just what the housekeeping staff at Pacific Beach Hotel (made up of about 150 members) do day in and day out.

They perform physically daunting tasks that include difficult and often overlooked labor such as lifting and turning down beds, scrubbing stains, and pushing carts from tower to tower.

How many of Hawaii’s people must be housekeepers or know one in their family, as the hotel and tourist industry shows no signs of slowing down. The workers deserve a respectable wage and benefits for their labor.

“Before we hardly had time to eat lunch we had to clean so many rooms a day. Now we get more time. The union helps us if there are problems,” said housekeeping member Lilia Mendoza.

Hotels would never run without the hard work of people in all their departments: bell, front desk, banquets, and housekeeping, and Pacific Beach Hotel is no exception.

Let’s give a shout out to all the workers in hotels who unionize and fight for recognition of the work they do. And if you ever stay in a hotel, don’t forget to leave a tip in your room and for whoever else helps you. These men and women work hard; show respect!

Members in housekeeping from L-R point to their ILWU pin that adorns their nametags. New Unit Chair Alanna Kuhn gave pins to all the members to wear in reminder that the union is there for them. Rowena Dumayas, Macrina Yasay, Julia Daguio, Elvira Farrell, Nida Corpuz, Jin Sub Jung

Vice Chair Alan Ah Yo, Jared Matsumura, Business Agent Paris Fernandez, Unit Chair Alanna Kuhn, Mark Koyanagi, Vice Chair Charles Chung of the bell department.

Morning shift housekeepers doing their stretch routine that helps them prepare for their physically-demanding work.

Charlene Sau Lin, Lilia Mendoza, and Helen Villanueva before they start their morning shift in housekeeping.