Labor groups protest maltreatment of Pinoy workers in Honolulu hotel

Local labor groups on Thursday picketed the Makati City headquarters of the primary investor of a hotel in Honolulu accused of maltreating its workers, a majority of whom are Filipinos.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and the Alliance of Independent Hotel and Restaurant Workers Unions (AIHRWU), picketed in front of Sun Life Financial, the primary investor of the Pacific Beach Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“If Sun Life wants to do business in the Philippines, the very least we can expect in return is that it will guarantee fair treatment for Filipino workers in the properties it controls,” said TUCP president Democrito Mendoza in a statement released Friday.

According to the groups, the Pacific Beach Hotel has been charged by the US government with 15 counts of violating federal labor law, including intimidating, coercing, and firing employees for union activism.

It said that in December 2007, the same hotel refused to negotiate with the workers’ legally elected union, and terminated 32 employees, including most of the elected union leaders.

“The Filipino workers at Pacific Beach Hotel work so hard. We cook the food, we make the beds, we clean the rooms, we do everything to make the hotel a success – just so we can make a better life for our kids. But the management treats us with no respect and no dignity,” said Filipina worker Virgie Recaido.

Several labor groups in the USA, Japan, and the Philippines have since called for a boycott of the hotel.

“We support these workers 100 percent, and so should everyone in the Philippines. We will not tolerate a company like Pacific Beach Hotel that breaks the law, ignores its workers’ rights, and treats hard-working employees with such disrespect,” said Mendoza.

“Filipinos are the backbone of the hotel economy. Labor equity can be achieved while at the same time ensuring that tourists stay satisfied and hotel owners stay in business. We will stand behind the workers at the Pacific Beach Hotel for as long as it takes to see that they get justice,” added Charlene Cuaresma, vice president of Filipino-American Citizens League.

Company response

In a statement, the Pacific Beach Hotel said that it disputes the charges and that it has already filed a response to the complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against them.

The company said talks of a union first appeared in 2002 when hotel employees determined that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 (ILWU) would represent the workers by a five-vote margin.

For the next three years, the union and the hotel would contest the representation until the NLRB certifies the ILWU’s right to represent the employees.

According to the hotel, negotiations on a contract began in November 2005. But it said the union started sidewalk demonstrations in 2006, calling for a boycott of the hotel.

Despite this, the company said they continued to bargain with the union until the ILWU reportedly rejected their final offer.

But the Pacific Beach Hotel said they still implemented a wage increase for all bargaining unit non-tipping category employees during the same year and a higher minimum wage effective January 1, 2007.

At the same time, the Outrigger Enterprises Group began managing the hotel and its employees – all of whom were reportedly rehired automatically. Management of the hotel revered to the Pacific Beach Corporation in the same year.

However, the hotel said that because of the economic downturn during that time, they had to let go some employees – much to the dismay of the union. This, it said, prompted more demonstrations which the management deemed to be the work of the union’s affiliated labor organizations and not of employees who supported them.

In July 2008, the Pacific Beach Hotel said that more than 60 percent of the hotel’s employees signed a petition against union representation, which it said “strengthened” its observations about the “illegitimacy” of the union’s activities. – Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV