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Editorials
Friday, September 15, 2000Hotel workers union
democracy threatenedThe issue: Eric Gill, leader of the hotel workers union, and three other union officials have gone to court to prevent their ouster from Unity House in a battle with Tony Rutledge.
THE power struggle over the unions organized by Art Rutledge is escalating. The current episode in a long-running saga began with Eric Gill defeating Rutledge's son, Tony, last April for the top job in Local 5 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union.
Although Gill was elected -- by a slim 45 votes -- to the post of financial secretary-treasurer, Rutledge supporters were re-elected to the executive board.
Several of those board members have asked the international union to remove Gill from office, accusing him of racism, violation of bylaws and failure to resolve grievances and complete contract negotiations.
Now the Rutledge forces have taken another tack -- attempting to oust Gill and three other leaders from Unity House, which Rutledge still heads and which administers assets of 20,000 active and retired members of the local hotel workers and teamsters unions.
The other three are Orlando Soriano, president of Local 5, Mel Kahele, president of the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, and Ronan Kazuma, secretary-treasurer of Local 996.
The four have filed a lawsuit requesting a court order forbidding Rutledge to suspend or expel them from Unity House without a hearing. Rutledge accused the four of violating their fiduciary duty by trying to disband Unity House and divide its $50 million in assets between the hotel workers and the teamsters.
The four deny the allegation. Gill also denies the charges made against him by Rutledge supporters in Local 5 and says the international union is aware that "irregularities" were uncovered in an audit when Rutledge was running the union. Gill says he is guilty only of "trying to protect the best interests of Local 5 and its members."
This smacks of retaliation by Rutledge and his allies against anyone who defied him. Soriano ran on the Rutledge slate in the April election. He said recently he had been notified he was being removed from the Unity House board and suspected the reason was he had refused to take a stand against Gill.
Kahele said Unity House stopped payment on a check written to the Teamsters to help pay for a training session for shop stewards. He said he thought the reason was he had allowed Gill to speak at the training session.
There is a long history of such treatment of dissidents in both unions, going back to the elder Rutledge.
Unions must operate on the basis of democracy and fair play if they are to meet the needs of workers. Rutledge's tactics seem designed to nullify the results of the Local 5 election in which he was defeated and purge officials who support his rival.
The Gill faction's filing a lawsuit to prevent its removal from Unity House takes this dispute beyond union meeting rooms into the courtroom. This seems necessary to prevent further damage to the democratic process in the union movement.
Olympics in Sydney
SOME 10,000 athletes -- and 21,000 journalists -- from 200 nations converge on Sydney, Australia, this week for the new millennium's first rendition of the Olympic Games. Amateur purity has become a distant memory as the modern Olympics has become mercenary from top to bottom, but that will not deter sports fans around the world from being drawn to hours-delayed coverage of the games.
NBC paid $750 million for the right to televise the games but will make much more in advertising revenue. A few of the victorious athletes stand to become rich from endorsements, but the gold trinkets signifying ultimate success remain their most precious dividends.
Marion Jones of the United States is expected to be the star of these Olympics as she tries to win five gold medals, never before accomplished in track and field. Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe can rely on local support to repeat his record-shattering performances. Many eyes will be fixed on gymnastics competition for the possible emergence of the next Olga Korbut or Nadia Comaneci.
Hawaii residents will have their own heroes trying to bring home an Olympic medal for the first time in 12 years. Waipahu flyweight boxer Brian Viloria may have the best chance to win a gold, unattained by an island resident since 1968. Romero defeated 1996 gold medalist Maikro Romero of Cuba for the world amateur championship last year and is expected to face him for the semi-finals in Sydney.
Other individual competitors from Hawaii are Kaneohe sprinter Kelsey Nakanelua, a member of the American Samoa team, Kailua laser sailer John Myrdal and light-heavyweight judo wrestler Amy Tong of Honolulu.
Hawaii residents also will compete on teams in volleyball, basketball, water polo, swimming relay, sailing, kayak and softball. University of Hawaii senior Matthew Kwock will compete in the breaststroke event for the Hong Kong team. Other past or present University of Hawaii students will participate on Olympic volleyball, basketball, swimming relay, water polo and softball teams.
Regardless of whether they return home with medals, reaching the Olympics is a major achievement. Television viewers in Hawaii will cheer their every effort, even though they will view them many hours after the actual performance.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
