With less than two weeks to go until Princeville Hotel workers decide whether to organize, both unions vying to represent the property allege that hotel management is pressuring workers to vote no. The certification election, which is scheduled to take
With less than two weeks to go until Princeville Hotel workers decide whether to organize, both unions vying to represent the property allege that hotel management is pressuring workers to vote no.
The certification election, which is scheduled to take place Sept. 24, will include on the ballot Unite Here! Local 5 as well as Local 142 of International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Representatives for both say that Princeville Hotel management has held a number of mandatory staff meetings to dissuade workers from organizing.
“We want (hotel management) to be neutral,” Local 5 Kaua‘i representative Daniel Kerwin said.
In response, Local 5 plans to hold a march at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday at the Sheraton Kauai Resort in Po‘ipu, which shares the same parent company — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. — as the Princeville and is also represented by the union.
According to Kerwin, about 70 Sheraton workers will walk from the hotel’s parking lot to Sheraton General Manager Angela Vento’s office to ask that she express discontent over the sister hotel’s actions to Starwood’s corporate headquarters.
“She has the ability to reach the people in the high places,” Kerwin said.
According to the National Labor Relations Board, which governs union-employer interaction, employers are prohibited by law from “interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes.”
Thomas Cestare, officer-in-charge of the Honolulu National Labor Relations Board, said that, in general terms, the hotel is within its right to try to persuade staff to remain independent. However, the Princeville cannot, for example, hold mandatory staff meetings within 24 hours of an election.
Cestare said unions often complain about a lack of neutrality, “but they know the rules.”
Nevertheless, ILWU Kaua‘i representative Tracy Takano argues that the hotel’s alleged anti-union behavior puts a lot of pressure on employees.
“We feel that the employer should just let the workers vote,” Takano said, adding that such meetings at the Princeville go back two months.
Princeville Hotel General Manager Kelly Hoen did not return calls for comment by press time.
Local 142 of ILWU is the state’s largest private sector union with a strong concentration in hotels, including the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort & Spa on Kaua‘i and two Starwood properties on Neighbor Islands.
Local 5 is a branch of Unite Here!, a national union that represents 57 of Starwood properties.
In early July, after two years of talks with Princeville workers, ILWU filed a petition with the Honolulu labor board to run a certification election, or vote to unionize, at the hotel. An initial date was set for late August.
Local 5 came on the scene shortly thereafter and asked that the election include additional categories of employees. The board granted Local 5’s request, and late last month the board rescheduled the vote for late September.
An estimated 300 Princeville workers are eligible to participate.
Meanwhile, Local 5 is in the middle of its bargaining session with Starwood over the Sheraton Kauai workers’ contracts, which expired Aug. 31.
Kerwin said the talks, which were put on hold last month, should conclude around Sept. 27.
As for progress so far, Kerwin said the negotiations have been amicable.
“We’re going to get our contract at the Sheraton Kauai,” Kerwin said. “Right now our priority is to support working families at the Princeville who want a union.”
• Blake Jones, business writer/assistant editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or bjones@kauaipubco.com.
