Some 1,800 employees at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort walked off the job at 5 a.m. Tuesday to begin what the union is calling an indefinite strike.
UNITE HERE! Local 5 said the labor action is against Hawaiʻi's largest hotel property and the world's largest Hilton resort.
The union said more than 4,000 hotel workers across the U.S. are now on open-ended strikes at Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels in San Diego, San Francisco and Honolulu.
This follows a three-day strike over Labor Day weekend at hotels nationwide, including seven in Waikīkī and one on Kaua‘i.
The union said strikes are possible at any time at the other seven Hawai‘i hotels that have authorized strikes — "should strike issues remain unresolved." Workers want higher wages and increased staffing.
The union said no contract talks have been scheduled. The last bargaining session was with Hyatt on Sept. 19.
HPR talked to Jiah Sadaya, a Hilton front desk guest services agent who lives in Kalihi with her whole family. She said they also work for Hilton and are on the strike line.
"My mother has been in housekeeping for about 30 years," she said. "So, you know, I kind of grew up on here, so Hilton has, like, some sort of sentimental value to me growing up. So that's one of the reasons I chose this place as well."
Sadaya has been with the hotel chain for over a year but has been on the on-call list, resulting in irregular hours. She said she has the lowest seniority among the front desk guest agents.
"At first, it was great, they were able to give me five shifts, even though I was on call, but they've just been cutting me back for sure," Sadaya said.
Sadaya said she has two other part-time jobs and is looking for another to support herself. She said it was an easy decision to join the strike line.
"I'm willing to fight, whatever it takes," she told HPR. "Everybody has different reasons of why they fight and why they want to go ahead and walk the picket line for sure."
HPR reached out to the Hilton for a comment. We had trouble getting through to the front desk. It took several tries, and we are still waiting for a response.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 24, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
