Gill gains top
spot in hotels’
Local 5

He beats rival Tony Rutledge
by 21 votes for
secretary-treasurer

---

By Rod Antone and Lyn Danninger
rantone@starbulletin.com
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

Eric Gill regained the top spot at Hawaii hotel workers' union Local 5 last night, beating out his bitter rival Tony Rutledge by a mere 21 votes.

When the tally for the financial secretary-treasurer post was complete, Gill had 2,527 votes vs. 2,506 for Rutledge and 256 for Estan "ET" Reynon.

"It was a little tight, but we're very happy with the results," Gill said. "A win is a win, and it's clear that our union has a lot of work to do."

The election is the latest chapter in a long battle between Rutledge and Gill for leadership of 11,000-member Local 5 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees.

"We knew we were going to win; obviously, this was a little tighter than we had hoped," Gill said. "I was a little nervous. We all were."

Most of the nervousness came down to the wire as 71 ballots were in question because the computer system counting the ballots could not read the cards.

Officials for True Ballot Inc. from Washington, D.C., did the counting and reviewed all 71 ballots and found that while the people who used those ballots had voted, most had marked outside of the box that the computer reads.

Even after a True Ballot audit, Gill still ended up ahead.

Rutledge was not present for the final ballot count and could not be reached for comment.

Local 5 had been under the control of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International union since January, after months of infighting between then-president Gill and other board members, as well as stalled hotel contract negotiations.

The move by the parent union to take over Local 5 came after a string of events that began with a 1997 election of officers in which an unopposed Rutledge slate was elected. A federal court later ruled that Gill's name was illegally kept off the ballot, and a new election was ordered. In an April 2000 election, Gill defeated Rutledge by 43 votes.

Prior to that defeat, Rutledge had held the post of financial treasurer-secretary for about 14 years.

Though Gill was elected to the chief management position of financial secretary-treasurer in early 2000, he said his leadership was largely pushed aside by an executive board that remained loyal to Rutledge.

But in this election, Gill's supporters won nine of the 12 positions on the executive board.

"With these conditions we can make it work," Gill said. "It's a big difference from last year."

The next 10 months will be critical for the Local 5 as about 90 percent of the union's contracts come up for negotiation.

Rutledge had said during his campaign that his years of experience in the position made him the best choice for the job.

After the election results were announced, Rutledge said "I wish him well, good luck, he's got a lot of work ahead of him."

Gill campaigned on a platform of reforming union leadership.

There were 5,338 Local 5 members registered to vote in the election. True Ballot counted a total of 5,320 ballots, most of them mailed in.