Hawaii
Hawaii hotel strikers seek unemployment benefits with no guarantee of getting those payments
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – While workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village fight for better wages and a bigger workforce, they are also heading into another fight — for unemployment benefits.
They could be eligible, but maybe not, if they do too much damage to the hotel’s income.
At the picket line at the Kalia Road entrance to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, like his colleagues, 9-year bellman Gerritt Vincent filed for unemployment but may not know for years if he will get paid.
“They told us we shouldn’t really expect much, but just to apply because you know, we’re worth it,” Vincent said.
Vincent says with no money coming in, unemployment payments would be helpful.
“I told my kids, ‘We’re sorry. We’re not going to go to McDonald’s. I told my wife, ‘Sorry, we can’t go to Target for next few days, we’re going to have to eat what we have at the house,’” he said.
Cade Watanabe, UNITE Local 5 financial secretary-treasurer, said, “We’re telling all of our members not to depend on it, not to expect it.”
That’s because it depends on how much the strike impacts Hilton’s bottom line.
Under Hawaii law and court rulings, if a strike has little or no impact on operations, workers are eligible for unemployment benefits. If the company loses 20 to 30% or more of its revenue, the workers are not eligible.
Even experts, like state House Labor Committee Chair Scot Matayoshi, can find it confusing.
“It’s honestly kind of counterintuitive to me, too,” he said.
It seems backward because strikes are designed to damage and even shut down the employer, but if the union succeeds in that, they don’t get unemployment.
Matayoshi says the law seems structured as a compromise, supporting striking workers without disabling their employers.
“If the strike is to such an extent that the whole business gets shut down, especially a crucial business, like a hospital, then unemployment benefits are withheld as perhaps incentive not to do that,” he said.
But it also creates another conflict between owners and workers. Employers will fight the unemployment applications, by offering the state Labor Department proof of business disruption severe enough for the state to deny the benefits,
“That’s something that will take a lot of time, ” Watanabe said. “That also will require the employer to share their financials.”
Financials the union will challenge on behalf of its workers, in disputes that can go on for years.
And every dispute is unique.
For example, nurses who were locked out from Kapiolani Hospital, didn’t leave voluntarily and the hospital still operated. But the Labor Department says the nurses’ eligibility is still under review.
While the law confusion seems to require change to the law, even with all the power labor has in the state, unions fear that by opening up the labor laws at the legislature could lead to unexpected negative consequences.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Hawaii
Hawaii County Surf Forecast for March 04, 2026 | Big Island Now
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| East Facing | 3-5 | 4-6 | 4-6 | 5-7 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Numerous showers. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||
| Winds | East winds 5 to 10 mph. | ||||||
|
|||||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Numerous showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the upper 70s. | |||||
| Winds | East winds 10 to 15 mph. | |||||
|
||||||
| Sunrise | 6:37 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:27 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly sunny until 6 PM, then mostly cloudy. Hazy. |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||||||
| Winds | West winds around 5 mph early in the afternoon, becoming light and variable. |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Hazy. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the mid 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Light and variable winds, becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon. |
||||||||
|
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| Sunrise | 6:41 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:31 PM HST. | ||||||||
The current moderate northwest swell will continue a gradual decline through Thursday. A small west-northwest swell will arrive on Friday and hold through the weekend, followed by a small north-northwest swell early next week. Choppy east shore surf will build to near seasonal average by Wednesday as trade winds strengthen over and east of the islands. Little change is expected along east facing shores through the weekend, followed by a possible decline early next week if winds veer southerly. Surf along south facing shores will remain small to tiny through the weekend, and some islands may an increase in choppy surf if southerly winds develop early next week.
NORTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the early morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions move in during the morning hours with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi glassy in the morning with N winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting WNW 5-10mph.
SOUTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NE winds 10-15mph. This becomes Sideshore texture/chop for the afternoon.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
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