Strike preparations
continue

Hotel talks continue into the night
for the third straight day

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By Lyn Danninger and Tim Ruel
ldanninger@starbulletin.com
truel@starbulletin.com

Strike preparations continued last night at Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 5 strike headquarters as union negotiators met with Sheraton management for a third consecutive day of contract talks.

The union plans to meet today with Hilton management unless there is a major breakthrough in talks, union officials said.

"We're still scheduled with Hilton depending on what happens," said Ilia Patlidzanov, a Local 5 negotiating committee member.

Patlidzanov said wages, subcontracting and medical benefits were still being discussed yesterday at the Sheraton negotiations.

"We're still talking about the same things," he said.

Still, Patlidzanov said he had become more optimistic with the arrival of Kyo-Ya Co. President Stanley Takahashi. Kyo-Ya contracts with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to manage the properties under the Sheraton brand.

"The owners are now more actively involved in the negotiations, so that's a hopeful sign," he said.

The union also issued a written update on the progress of the talks earlier in the day for its members. It noted progress had been made on pension and workload issues as well as automatic gratuities for servers, but agreement on subcontracting, medical plan contributions and wages had not been reached.

At strike headquarters on Kapiolani Boulevard, workers continued to make picket signs.

"We picked up canned goods from Costco, plus the churches have donated food, said Richard Loyd, a Local 5 staff member.

Loyd and others at strike headquarters said they were surprised negotiations were continuing.

"I'm pretty sure they're not going to budge. I'm surprised it went this long," Loyd said.

Union members said they are on alert and ready in case a strike is called.

"They told us to keep cranking out signs because we could go as early as tonight," Loyd said yesterday.

Negotiations between Local 5 and Sheraton have been running since Tuesday, with each bargaining session going into the night. Hilton talks have been delayed since earlier this week, when Local 5 said it was making progress with Sheraton.

Four thousand Local 5 workers at five Hilton and Sheraton hotels in Waikiki have been without a contract since it expired at the end of February.