HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – More than 5,000 hotel workers are preparing for what they call an “imminent strike.”
A possible strike would affect seven hotels in Waikiki and one hotel in Kauai.
Hotel workers authorized a strike on August 8 and began signing up for strike benefits and sign making on Monday.
Workers say wages, staffing levels, benefits and maintaining certain guest services are among the sticking points.
Briana Canencia has been working as a waitress at the Waikiki Beach Marriott for eleven years.
“Nobody wants to strike. Nobody wants to walk out of work at any time, but if we want a living wage, if we want our families to live here for future generations, this is what we have to do,” said Briana Canencia.
“These are the sacrifices we have to make,” she added.
Seven hotels in Waikiki and one on Kauai would be affected: Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, Moana Surfrider, The Royal Hawaiian, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Sheraton Waikiki, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa and the Sheraton Kauai Resort.
Keith Vieira, head of KV & Associates Hospitality Consulting, says that in addition to Hawaii’s main economic engine, small businesses that rely on tourists would also be harmed.
He says occupancy at Waikiki hotels is between 60 and 75 percent, when it should be around 90 percent this time of year.
“(The industry) still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic. It hasn’t recovered without the Japanese, from the hotels’ point of view. They’re still struggling,” Vieira said.
“There probably couldn’t be a worse time for this,” he added.
In 2018, 2,700 hotel workers on Oahu and Maui went on strike for 51 days. Local 5 says this potential strike would be the largest since 1990.
Representatives of the Hawaiian tourism industry expressed hope that an agreement could be reached and a strike could be averted.
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