Aston Settles Unfair Labor Practice Dispute with Hotel Union
But the company denies that it harassed and intimidated workers for trying to organize coworkers.
The Hawaii Independent // The Rotunda
April 30, 2015
On April 30, Aston Hotels & Resorts settled unfair labor practice charges filed by UNITE HERE! Local 5—the private sector union representing hotel, food service and healthcare workers in Hawaiʻi—over allegations that the hotel company violated federal labor law by intimidating and harassing workers at the Aston Waikiki Beach and Hotel Renew.
Aston’s settlement comes without the issuance of a complaint, the admission of any violation of the law or the imposition of any penalty, but it does require Aston to post notices in both hotels informing employees of the settlement, and that workers have a right to organize for a fair process to decide whether to form a union.
The notice confirms to workers that the hotels “will not interrogate you about your union membership, activities, and sympathies” and “will not threaten you with adverse job consequences if you engage in union or other protected and concerted activities.”
The Aston Waikiki Beach and Hotel Renew employ 160 and 25 workers, respectively. In February of 2015, workers began organizing for a fair process for union representation. Workers from various hotel departments voiced concerns about the lack of respect from management. According to Local 5, the hotels reacted by organizing an aggressive anti-union campaign that included threats, interrogation and surveillance.
“I’m glad we stood up to Aston bullying us,” said Tino Fabro, who works at the Aston Waikiki Beach housekeeping department. “Now that the federal government has stepped in, we hope that management actually follows the law. They said before that it will stop, but it never has.”
“It’s great to hear that management is acknowledging that they shouldn’t be intimidating and threatening us,” said Mary Jane Padaca, a housekeeper at Hotel Renew. “We will continue to hold them accountable to that.”
On April 21, 2015, Local 5 filed eight unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) related to the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel and Hotel Renew, both managed by Aston Hotels & Resorts.
One week later, the company responded to the accusations in a statement, blaming an out-of-date employee handbook and “miscommunications between employees” for the charges.
“We are currently working with the NLRB on resolving those charges,” the statement said. “Like most employers, we are adjusting older employee handbook policies to reflect very recent changes required by new NLRB decisions in mainland cases, and the recent NLRB General Counsel memorandum on employee handbooks which was released just last month.”
According to the statement, many of these problems have since been corrected.
But Local 5 says the dispute is about more than a handbook. The union alleges that managers at the two hotels violated federal law by conducting surveillance on workers and threatening, bullying and harassing them in retaliation, after they sought representation with Local 5 in February.
“This isn’t about the handbook,” said Cecilia Aradanas, a housekeeper at the Aston Waikiki Beach. “This is about my coworkers and me being harassed to sign against the union.”
Aston disputes the claim that it waged a campaign against workers, instead stating that the settled charges stem from a Local 5 campaign to force Aston to “waive the right of its valued team members to decide for themselves in a secret ballot election conducted by NLRB whether they wish to pay a significant part of their paycheck to Local 5 in order to be able to continue working.”
“Aston believes that the majority of its team members benefit from their union-free status, which may explain why Local 5 has not simply asked the NLRB to conduct an election and let our team members decide instead of trying unsuccessfully to harass our team members and disrupt guest services,” said Kelvin Bloom, a spokesperson for Aston Hotels & Resorts, LLC. “We appreciate the assistance of the NLRB in successfully resolving the charges and we remain very proud of our valued team members’ continued support despite the periodic distractions from Local 5.”
UNITE HERE! Local 5 is a labor union representing approximately 10,000 workers throughout Hawaiʻi who work in the hospitality, healthcare and food service industries. Local 5 is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, an international union that represents over 250,000 workers throughout the United States and Canada.
