NEW YORK — About 2,000 workers at Hawaii’s biggest resort went on strike on Tuesday, joining thousands of other hotel workers in other U.S. cities who were also on strike.
At 5 a.m., unionized workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, which is the world’s biggest Hilton, went on strike that would last until they got their demands met. In exchange for better working conditions and higher pay, they want cuts made during the COVID-19 pandemic to be undone, such as limiting daily room cleaning.
When asked for feedback on the strike by email, Hilton HLT -0.32% representatives didn’t answer right away.
People at the resort woke up on Tuesday to the sound of drums, whistles, and chants coming from below their rooftop.
As they sat on a bench outside the lodge and looked out at a lagoon, Greg Sellers said, “We heard the noise when we first woke up this morning.” “It might not make a big difference in how long we stay here.” The working rights in Australia are much better than they seem to be here, so I guess we support the cause.
People sunbathing or sitting under covers on the part of Waikiki beach close to the resort could hear the strikers in the distance. Hotel guests at the huge resort enjoyed the pool, shops, and restaurants.
Outside, workers marched and yelled while holding signs that said things like “One Job Should Be Enough.” This shows how many Hawaii residents have to work more than one job to afford to live in a state with such a high cost of living.
The UNITE HERE union says that more than 4,000 hotel workers at Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels in Honolulu, San Diego, and San Francisco have gone on strike since Tuesday. The union said they would go on strike until they got new contracts and warned that more strikes might happen soon.
All over the U.S., more than 10,000 hotel workers went on strike over the Labor Day weekend. Most of the strikes ended after two or three days.
Aileen Bautista said that as a single mom, she works three jobs to make ends meet. One of them is as a cleaner at Hilton Hawaiian Village.
She said, “I’m on strike again, and this time I’m ready to stay on strike as long as it takes to win.”
While Estella Fontanilla was using a megaphone to lead marching workers in cheers, she stopped to tell her that keeping daily housekeeper is important because it’s harder to clean rooms that haven’t been cleaned in days. She said she wants her guests to keep asking her to clean every day.
Along with the hotel strike, more than 600 nurses have been locked out of the Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children since the beginning of the month for a one-day strike. Ten people were arrested on Monday for stopping buses full of temporary nurses from getting into the Honolulu hospital, where nurses are asking for safer ratios of patients to nurses.
Tuesday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and Attorney General Anne Lopez told the leaders of the hospital and the union that they should try to reach a deal through federal mediation.
