HONOLULU — Rocky Higgins, who has worked as a bartender at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel for 30 years, signed a strike benefit card and made picket signs Monday in preparation for what could be Unite Here Local 5’s largest hotel strike in decades. HONOLULU — Rocky Higgins, who has worked as a bartender at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel for 30 years, signed a strike benefit card and made picket signs Monday in preparation for what could be Unite Here Local 5’s largest hotel strike in decades. Higgins is among over 5,000 workers who have authorized a strike at the Sheraton Kauai Resort and seven Waikiki hotels: the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort; Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort Moana Surfrider — a Westin Resort Spa; The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort; Sheraton Princess Kaiulani; Sheraton Waikiki; and the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort &Spa.
The union has not made its strike plan clear, but has the power to call for a walkout at any time. If the strike moves forward, it would be Local 5’s largest strike since 1990 when union workers from 11 hotels went on a 22-day strike. In 2018 some 2,700 Local 5 workers at five Marriott-managed hotels went on a 51-day strike that ended with the ratification of a contract that gave union members up to $6.
13 an hour in pay and benefit increases over four years. Higgins still remembers the challenges of the 2018 strike, but said it was worth it. He said the issues workers are fighting for this time around, like.