Union workers at Hawaii's largest hotel go on strike

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

About 2,000 workers went on strike Tuesday at Hawaii's largest resort, joining thousands of others striking at other hotels in other U.S. cities.

Unionized workers at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort — the largest Hilton in the world — began an open-ended strike at 5 a.m. They are calling for conditions including higher wages, more manageable workloads and a reversal of cuts implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic such as limited daily room cleaning.

Hilton representatives didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the strike.

Greg and Kerrie Sellers woke up Tuesday to drum beats, whistles and chants that they could hear coming from below their balcony at the resort.

“We heard the commotion from when we first woke up this morning," Greg Sellers recalled as they sat on a bench overlooking a lagoon outside the resort. "I don’t know that it’s going to have a great impact on our time here. I guess we’re sympathetic to the cause because ... the working rights over in Australia are much much better than what they seem to be ... over here.”

Beachgoers sunbathing or sitting under umbrellas at the stretch of Waikiki beach near the resort could hear the strikers in the distance as hotel guests enjoyed the pool, shops and restaurants throughout the sprawling resort.

Outside on the street, workers marched and chanted bearing signs with slogans such as “One Job Should Be Enough,” which reflects how many Hawaii residents work multiple jobs to afford living in a state with an extremely high cost of living.

With the start of Tuesday's strike, more than 4,000 hotel workers are now on strike at Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels in Honolulu, San Diego and San Francisco, according to the UNITE HERE union. They will strike until they win new contracts, the union said, warning that more strikes could begin soon.

More than 10,000 hotels workers across the U.S. went on strike on Labor Day weekend, with most ending after two or three days.

Aileen Bautista said she has three jobs, including as a housekeeper at Hilton Hawaiian Village, in order to makes ends meet as a single mom.

“I am on strike again, and this time I am ready to stay on strike for as long as it takes to win," she said.

Her coworker, Estella Fontanilla, paused from using a megaphone to lead marching workers in chants to explain that preserving daily housekeeper is crucial because it is much harder to clean rooms that haven't been cleaned for days. She said she wants guests to keep asking for daily cleaning.

The hotel strike comes as more than 600 nurses are locked out of the Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children after going on a one-day strike earlier this month. On Monday, 10 people were arrested for blocking busloads of temporary nurses from entering the Honolulu hospital where nurses are calling for safer patient-nurse ratios.

On Tuesday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and Attorney General Anne Lopez urged hospital and union leaders to seek federal mediation to help reach an agreement.