UNITE HERE Local 5 Union Workers Strike at Ilikai Hotel after Aqua-Aston Hospitality Refuses to Settle a Fair Contract

Workers are striking to protest wage and workload standards at the Ilikai, a Waikiki hotel owned by iStar Inc. and operated by Aqua-Aston Hospitality

HONOLULU--()--Today, UNITE HERE Local 5 members who work at the historic Ilikai Hotel walked off the job to protest their unbearable working conditions. Workers say they have been working under a lower wage and higher workload standard than industry peers.

Today’s action comes nearly two years after the expiration of their contract, and two months after Ilikai management promised workers they would address this problem.

According to Local 5, the Ilikai Hotel is owned by iStar Inc., a publicly-traded real estate investment trust, and operated by Aqua-Aston Hospitality. Aqua-Aston is a subsidiary of ILG, a publicly traded timeshare company. Aqua-Aston also operates the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, the site of an ongoing dispute in which non-union employees asked for a fair process to decide whether to unionize but were met with opposition and even illegal actions from management.

According to Local 5, a contentious labor dispute should be avoided whenever possible since such disputes may interfere with owners’ and operators’ operation of hotel properties, and it contributes to unproductive hostility between hotel management and workers.

“We will never stop fighting for the dignity of the women and men at the Ilikai,” says Joli Tokusato, an Ilikai front desk clerk and twenty-seven year veteran of the hotel industry. “iStar and Aqua-Aston need to do the right thing for Hawaii’s working families and settle a fair contract.”

Local 5 workers have fought to ensure that Hawaii’s major industry provides good jobs for Hawaii’s people. Ilikai workers are at the forefront of that effort today: they are fighting to prevent Aqua-Aston, one of Hawaii’s major hotel employers, from chipping away at Local 5’s hard-won standard for hotel wages and benefits.

Ilikai workers today joined a massive series of actions by thousands of workers in over 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada. "When we fight for better conditions, everybody in the community benefits," says Tokusato. "We are the ones who make sure tourism pays for Hawaii's people, not just investors. By taking action today, we are serving our country."

Contacts

UNITE HERE Local 5
Paola Rodelas
Office: 808-941-2141 ext. 270
Mobile: 808-333-4782
prodelas@5.unitehere.org

Release Summary

Local 5 workers strike at the Ilikai Hotel, an iStar Inc.-owned and Aqua-Aston Hospitality-operated hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii

Contacts

UNITE HERE Local 5
Paola Rodelas
Office: 808-941-2141 ext. 270
Mobile: 808-333-4782
prodelas@5.unitehere.org