Photo By Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin
ILWU members picket the Turtle Bay Hilton yesterday. The union
says nine landscapers were unfairly terminated. The hotel says they
had a chance to apply for jobs with the landscaping company it hired.
Members of the ILWU and their supporters maintained a picket line outside the North Shore resort's main gates.
The hotel defended its action, which came after it shifted the landscaping work to an outside contractor. It said the laid-off employees were given plenty of notice and a chance to apply for jobs with the contractor, which is unionized.
John Elford, the hotel's general manager, called the union's public statements about the case inaccurate and inflammatory.
ILWU Local 142 issued a statement saying that the hotel unfairly terminated the workers and refuses to negotiate on the matter.
The union accused the hotel of putting the goal of saving a little money ahead of the interests of dedicated, hardworking employees, who have worked there an average of 10 years and live in the area.
"We were always willing to help the hotel cut costs but the Hilton refused our requests for information," said Raymond Camacho, ILWU Oahu division director. He said the union will fight the dismissals through a federal unfair labor practices charge.
Elford said the hotel told the ILWU in March of its plan to use an outside contractor. He also dismissed a union charge that the hotel chose the contractor, Landscape Concepts Inc., because it is owned by a brother of Lili Tani, the hotel's human resources director. Elford said Tani was not involved in making the choice.
The laid-off employees were told they could apply for other jobs at the hotel or jobs with the landscaping contractor, Elford said.
Two employees did apply for jobs at the hotel, he said, and one is already working there.
Members of Local 5, the hotel workers' union, crossed the picket line and went to work but Teamsters Union drivers of city buses refused to take the buses to the stop within the resort.
Elford said the hotel had only a handful of requests from employees for rides to the bus stop outside the property.