Pacific Beach Hotel and union disagree on petition’s validity
The Pacific Beach Hotel is claiming that a majority of workers have signed a petition stating that they do not want to be part of a union; however, ILWU Local 142 said the signatures were obtained under duress and that it has the support cards to prove it.
HTH Corp. said yesterday in a press release that workers delivered a petition on July 10 to Robert M. Minicola, regional vice president of operations for HTH Corporation. The petition, which allegedly contains signatures from 200 of the 367 hotel workers, said that employees do not want to join the ILWU or any other union.
Anticipating that HTH Corp. would attempt to decertify the union, ILWU Local 142 collected support cards from more than 70 percent of the hotel workers earlier this year and turned them into the National Labor Relations Board, said Dave Mori, Oahu division director for the union.
"The management has continued to pressure workers and has refused to recognize their right to belong to a union," Mori said, adding that although Pacific Beach workers voted to join the ILWU in 2004, they have yet to get their first contract.
HTH Corp. has made similar allegations against the union and has said that the employee petition reinforces its "good faith doubt" that employees do not want union representation and also that the union certification to negotiate a contract has expired.