Local 5 seeking
Turtle Bay boycott
Hotel workers union Local 5 has called for a consumer boycott of the 443-room Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore, effective last night, amid contract negotiations.
Local 5's 250 workers at the hotel will remain on the job during the boycott, though their contract was canceled last night.
According to Local 5, outstanding issues include subcontracting and kitchen job combinations. The Turtle Bay Resort, a once-dilapidated hotel that recently completed a $60 million renovation, is owned by Oaktree Capital Management LLC of Los Angeles and managed by Texas-based Benchmark Hospitality. The hotel doesn't anticipate any boycott, said Abid Butt, managing director.
The hotel believes the contract talks are moving ahead.
Local 5 said it has notified all unions in Hawaii, and it plans to notify all AFL-CIO affiliated unions nationally. The United Public Workers union already has canceled an event scheduled at the hotel, said Jason Ward, spokesman for Local 5, of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International union.
Turtle Bay workers voted 92 percent to endorse a boycott in early July, but the union delayed action after the hotel agreed to increase contributions to maintain workers' health and pension benefits, and to pay increases in the second and third years of the contract.
