Court asked
to void hotel
workers’ election

The Labor Department
says union members were
denied some rights

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

The U.S. Department of Labor has asked the federal court to overturn the January election of all officers of the Hawaii hotel workers' union.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, the department asked the court to order a new election for all officers of Local 5 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union. With about 11,000 members, Local 5 is one of the state's most powerful unions.

The suit is similar to one the department filed a month ago seeking to overturn the election of Tony Rutledge as financial secretary-treasurer. It was filed after an investigation into complaints by Eric Gill, an unsuccessful candidate for Rutledge's job.

In the latest suit, the labor department said Rutledge and the other officers "denied a member in good standing the right to be a candidate for union office" when they declared Gill ineligible.

The department also said the union illegally used union publications to campaign for the incumbents and "denied hundreds of members the right to vote by delaying the mailing of ballots."

Rutledge said the lawsuit contains "only allegations" and that the incumbent officers will be vindicated in court. He also criticized Gill.

"He's a legend in his own mind," Rutledge said today. "I am the only one that has to contend with the only unsuccessful Gill in the State of Hawaii." Gill's brother, Gary, is director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control, and their father, Tom Gill, is an attorney and a former lieutenant governor.

Gill said that the department's findings of election violations confirm his opinion that the election was improper.

"The incumbents cheated union members out of a fair election," he said. "Our current leadership has badly damaged the trust and confidence that the membership places in the union."