DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Local 5 union members, including Bonnie Corrigan, front, Greg Elliott and Shannon Ancheta, walked the picket lines yesterday in front of the Turtle Bay Resort entrance.

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Turtle Bay workers
protest use of temps

Picketers who walked out say
they were improperly replaced

Pickets are expected to again greet guests at the Turtle Bay Resort today as union members replaced by temporary workers continue a protest at the hotel.

About two dozen members of Local 5 Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union walked the picket line yesterday. They said hotel management improperly replaced some of the workers who participated in a walkout Friday over another matter.

It's the latest wrinkle in a long-running labor dispute.

The union and hotel management are slated to resume contract negotiations Tuesday and a National Labor Relations Board hearing is scheduled for July 19 regarding union allegations of past unfair labor practices.

The majority of workers who walked out Friday were back at work yesterday, said Abid Butt, Turtle Bay vice president and general manager. The hotel hired about 30 to 40 replacement workers on Friday to cover their shifts. Those workers required a guarantee of more than one day's work to take the temporary assignments, Butt said. The union workers will go back to their jobs in two to 10 days, he said.

Union organizer Laura Moye accused the hotel of "stretching" the law with its use of temporary workers.

Union member Bonnie Corrigan has worked 28 years as a waitress in the hotel's Palm Court restaurant.

"They called at 5:30 this morning when I was getting ready to report at 7 a.m. and told me I was replaced and won't be needed until Friday," she said.

Moye said 85 percent of the hotel's 320 union workers participated in a one-day walkout Friday over another matter -- management's suspension of two union members and threatened firing of one.

Maintenance worker Mark Feltman, one of the workers suspended and facing termination, said all he did was casually ask a fellow employee, who testified as a witness for management in a June 9 court proceeding, "How was court?"

However, Butt said the employees threatened another worker and used profanity. "This resort has got a zero tolerance against intimidation, threats and harassment," he said.

"He shrugged his shoulders and walked away," Feltman said. "The general manager says I used profanity. I didn't. Why would I? He's my friend."

The AFL-CIO union represents housekeepers, bell and front desk staff, bartenders, food servers, stablehands and maintenance workers.

Turtle Bay Resort is owned by Oaktree Capital Management of Los Angeles and managed by Texas-based Benchmark Hospitality.

Butt said he welcomes all replaced workers back when their jobs are open again. He called it "truly unfortunate that Local 5 would rather deal with these issues in the street rather than at the bargaining table," but refused to say what issues are at stake in contract negotiations.

Moye said the issue is getting Turtle Bay employees a contract similar to those it has with other Hawaii hotels, including job security from subcontracting and in case of sale; paying current-day amounts for medical and pension funds; significant wage increases; and protection from unreasonable workload.