Ala Moana Hotel gets new worker contract

The union representing workers at the Ala Moana Hotel has reached a tentative agreement with the condotel's management.

Unite Here Local 5 next will present terms of the proposed contract to the property's nearly 300 workers, followed by a ratification vote, still to be scheduled.

The four-year deal with ALM Management Services LLC, a unit of Outrigger Enterprise Group, will end more than a year of work without a contract at the property.

FULL STORY »

More than a year after their last contract expired, nearly 300 Unite Here Local 5 workers at the Ala Moana Condominium Hotel now have a tentative four-year contract.

Both Local 5 and ALM Management Services LLC, the Outrigger Enterprise Group unit that operates the hotel, have reached a settlement after months of negotiations.

Details on the tentative contract are expected to be released once all workers at the Ala Moana have had a chance to review and vote on it, according to Eric Gill, Local 5's financial secretary and treasurer.

A date for the ratification vote has yet to be scheduled.

"This settlement agreement maintains important elements of the union's contract standard, and workers at the Ala Moana -- who have been behind for 20 years -- can now begin the process of catching up to the rest of Waikiki."

Contracts offering higher average wage increases for nontipped as well as tipped employees, along with increased medical and pension benefits and improvements in housekeeping workloads, were settled for many of Waikiki's major hotels last year.

Hotels with ratified Local 5 contracts include the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Waikiki Beach Marriott, the Kahala Hotel & Resort, and Oahu's four Sheraton Hotels.

The Ala Moana Hotel's union contract expired May 31, 2006.

In January, ALM LLC, another Outrigger company, bought the hotel's lobby and other common areas and took over operations from the Miami-based Crescent Heights Inc., including the transfer of about 450 employees.

Vilma Aquino, a linen room attendant at Ala Moana for 37 years, celebrated the news.

"I'm two years away from retirement, so many of us have worked here for so long, we know every corner of the hotel, and I'm glad it's done. ... I'm just relieved!"