by Dr. Arcelita Imasa
I am a Filipino worker in a restaurant in Kalihi. What are the workers at the Hilton Hotel in Waikiki striking over?
– Reader
Dear Reader,
The hotel workers, like the Kapiolani nurses, have made enormous sacrifices in opposing corporate greed and seeking to improve the working conditions and living standards of Hawaii’s workers.
Less than 2,000 striking Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel workers are seeking pay raises and more staffing at the hotel to offset inflation, lessen the work burden, and improve services to hotel guests.
Thousands more hotel workers in Waikiki are ready to strike over these issues if this is what they need to get what they deserve.
After the Covid pandemic, most hotels never restored staffing to pre-Covid levels while maintaining or hiking room rates for guests. The workers have had to pick up the slack with no increase in pay.
The profits of the absentee hotel owners, usually large finance or insurance companies on the continent, soared. Meanwhile, many workers in tourism, our leading industry, have to work two or three jobs to support their families.
Workers need to have wages that are good enough to support decent living in the islands.
We should support our hotel workers!
The Hawaii Workers Center and the Defend and Respect Hawaii Workers, a coalition of many unions and community organizations fighting for our workers, have been supporting the Hilton workers in their demands.
Please come out and show up at the picket lines of the workers whenever you can.
Picketing is healthy, but corporate greed is NOT. Be part of the Solidarity Squad of individuals who support the workers all over Hawaii! Get in touch with us at www.hawaiiworkerscenter.org.
When they win, we all win!
Sincerely,
Hawaii Workers Center
DR. ARCELITA IMASA is a practicing family physician and the secretary of the Hawaii Workers Center’s Executive Committee of the Board. She grew up in the Philippines before migrating to Hawaii with her family more than a decade ago.
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