WAIKIKI (HawaiiNewsNow) – Roughly 5,000 workers at Hawaii hotels spent Labor Day weekend walking picket lines in the heart of the city’s tourism center as the strike for better working conditions entered its second day.
At the same time, more than 10,000 workers at 25 hotels across the U.S. also on striked Monday.
Union “UNITE HERE! Local 5″ chose Labor Day weekend to amplify their demands for higher pay, fair staffing, and a reversal of COVID-era cuts, including a full return of guest services, like room service and daily room cleaning.
Workers say it’s about improving conditions not just for them, but for the guests as well.
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“Even after COVID, they didn’t bring all our workers back so everyone is doing more work,” said Pamela Toma who worked at the Hyatt Regency in Waikiki for 35 years. “As servers we make $14 because we’re tipped employees. We’ve been negotiating with them since April and they don’t want to do anything.”
The Hyatt is just one of the major Waikiki hotels with workers on strike.
HNN reached out to the hotel for comment about negotiations with the union and is waiting to hear back
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Hotel guests HNN spoke with said they support the workers but they can’t sleep with noise and they’re beginning to notice the impact to hotel services.
“You know it’s okay they are striking. We get whatever people got to do but it’s the drums and they start so early at 4 a.m. in the morning until late at night,” said one hotel guest.
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“We had no room service. We did not get any towels. So it’s sad you know the people work hard. I feel real bad,” a guest at the Hyatt said.
Hospitality consultant Keith Vieira said the strike puts hotels in a difficult position.
“Probably 10 to 15% of your staff or managers or supervisor levels that are non-union, so they’re going to all pitch in and clean rooms and do what they have to do,” explained Vieira.
“Naturally you’re going to hire walk-ins off the street but that’s really difficult because there isn’t, an excess of workers looking for jobs. I mean, everybody is very tight.”
Meanwhile, nearby businesses say the strike is hurting their bottom line.
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“We’ve noticed a lot of our customers seem to be avoiding International Marketplace with the protesting and things that are going on street,” said Allen Farinas, the owner of Shorefyre restaurant.
“All those guys should get what they need to get to support their families, it’s just sad that it does affect my business.”
The union said the strike was their last option after months of failed negotiations.
“If we stay quiet, nothing will change,” a picketer said.
The strike is set to finish at the end of the day on Tuesday but the union said negotiations have not been scheduled yet.
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Cal could be spending New Year’s Eve in Hawaii – at least that’s what several college football experts predict.
The Golden Bears (5-3) still need another win to become bowl-eligible for the third straight year, and none of their four remaining games – starting with Saturday afternoon’s home game against 15th-ranked Virginia – is a sure win. Nonetheless, all nine of the reputable bowl-projection sites we cited predict that Cal will be in a bowl game.
What is surprising is that the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu and the Pinstripe Bowl in New York are two postseason destinations predicted for the Bears by multiple experts.
The Hawaii Bowl is supposed to match a Mountain West team with an American Conference team, or possibly a Conference USA team, but ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura, On3’s Brett McMurphy and Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan project that Cal will wind up in the Hawaii Bowl, with either New Mexico or the hometown team, Hawaii, as the Bears’ opponent.
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The Pinstripe Bowl is supposed to pair a Big Ten team with an ACC team in its game at Yankee Stadium, and although Cal is an ACC team, the Bears are still supposed to play in one of the six Pac-12 bowls. Because of contract obligations, teams that were members of the Pac-12 in 2023, such as Cal, are tied to the Pac-12 bowls, which are listed at the end of this article.
However, CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford projects that Cal will face Maryland in the Pinstripe Bowl, while Pete Fiutak of College Football News predicts that Cal will play Northwestern in that bowl game.
Two experts also place Cal in the LA Bowl, which is a Pac-12-affiliated bowl and the game that Cal played in last year.
The Las Vegas Bowl and Holiday Bowl are the two other bowls offered as possible bowl destinations for the Bears, who, at this point, will just be happy to get to any bowl game.
Here are the nine bowl projections for Cal:
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ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)
Hawaii Bowl – Cal vs. New Mexico
Wednesday, December 24
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex (Honolulu)
5 p.m., ESPN
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.
ESPN (Mark Schlabach)
Las Vegas Bowl – Cal vs. Nebraska
Wednesday, December 31
Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)
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12:30 p.m., ESPN
.
CBS Sports (Brad Crawford)
Pinstripe Bowl – Cal vs. Maryland
Saturday, December 27
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Yankee Stadium (Bronx, New York)
9 a.m., ABC
.
SI (Bryan Fischer)
Holiday Bowl – Cal vs. Utah
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Friday, January 2
Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego)
5 p.m., Fox
.
On3 (Brett McMurphy)
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Hawaii Bowl – Cal vs. Hawaii
Wednesday, December 24
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex (Honolulu)
5 p.m., ESPN
.
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Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)
Hawaii Bowl – Cal vs. Hawaii
Wednesday, December 24
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex (Honolulu)
5 p.m., ESPN
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.
College Football News (Pete Fiutak)
Pinstripe Bowl – Cal vs. Northwestern
Saturday, December 27
Yankee Stadium (Bronx, New York)
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9 a.m., ABC
.
Pro Football Network
LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV
Saturday, December 13
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SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California)
6 p.m., ESPN
.
USA Today (Erick Smith)
LA Bowl – Cal vs. Boise State
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Saturday, December 13
SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California)
6 p.m., ESPN
.
Bowls that have tie-ins to the teams that were in the Pac-12 in 2023, which includes Cal:
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LA Bowl — December 13, 6 p.m. Pacific time, SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California), ESPN
Independence Bowl – December 30, 11 a.m. Pacific time, Independence Stadium (Shreveport, Louisiana), ESPN
Las Vegas Bowl – December 31, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas), ESPN
Sun Bowl – December 31, 11 a.m. Pacific time, Sun Bowl Stadium (El Paso, Texas), CBS
Alamo Bowl – December 30, 6 p.m., Alamodome (San Antonio), ESPN
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Holiday Bowl – January 2, 5 p.m., Pacific time, Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego), Fox
Next spring, travelers based on the West Coast will have a multitude of new domestic flight options, as Alaska Airlines is planning a significant expansion to its route network in California, Oregon, and Hawaii.
The carrier is adding 13 new nonstop routes for spring 2026, with several new flights from its key cities in Portland and San Diego and a new route to Hawaii.
“San Diego continues to be one of our fastest-growing hubs while Portland and Hawai‘i are essential parts of our global network,” said Kirsten Amrine, vice president of revenue management and network planning for Alaska Airlines. “Our investment in these markets is designed to meet the strong demand we’re seeing from the recent launch of Atmos Rewards.”
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The carrier plans to add five new nonstop routes from San Diego to Dallas-Fort Worth, Oakland, Raleigh-Durham, Santa Barbara, and Tulsa. In addition to the new routes, Alaska will also increase the number of flights from San Diego to Santa Rosa-Sonoma to three times per day, the most of any airline that serves the route. In total it will increase its total number of flights in San Diego by 35% in spring 2026 compared to spring 2025.
In May 2026, Alaska will add four new routes from Portland, Oregon (PDX), to Baltimore, Idaho Falls, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. With those additions, the carrier will serve 62 destinations nonstop from PDX. What’s more: the airline will increase flight frequencies at the airport, including making its route from Portland to Kauai, Hawaii, available year-round, adding a second daily frequency to Newark, and increasing its service to Santa Rosa-Sonoma to three flights per day.
In Hawaii, the airline is adding the first seasonal flight between Honolulu and Burbank, California, in 20 years. Alaska will also increase frequencies to the Hawaiian islands from two of its California hubs. “Los Angeles-Kahului (Maui) goes to two daily nonstops with an additional seasonal flight, and San Francisco-Kona (Hawai‘i Island) and San Francisco-Līhu‘e (Kaua‘i) will increase in June to daily nonstops, joining flights that already operate several times a week,” the airline said.
By early summer 2026, Alaska will operate daily nonstop flights to all four Hawaiian islands from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle.
Two of the destinations from the yet-to-launch routes are brand new for the airline: Tulsa, Oklahoma (TUL), and Arcata-Eureka, California (ACV), located on the state’s Redwood Coast. Alaska will operate daily flights to Tulsa from both San Diego (SAN) and Seattle (SEA), as well as daily flights to Arcata-Eureka from Seattle.
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With the two new points on its route map, Alaska Airlines is set to serve a total of 142 destinations in 2026, which is the most ever in its history.
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Kapalua Golf will reopen its Plantation Course in West Maui on Nov. 10, following a closure that began Sept. 2 due to dry conditions leading to poor turf health.
“We are deeply grateful for our agronomy team and the work they have done to bring the course back,” Kapalua Golf general manager Alex Nakajima said in a news release.
“As a key contributor to the Maui economy, reopening the Plantation Course means a lot for our community and the 300+ employees who work at the course and restaurants. We look forward to welcoming guests back to Kapalua Golf’s Plantation Course beginning on Nov. 10,” he said.
Reservations for November tee times are now open, and there is a reopening promotional rate of $399. Tee times for December will be available 14 days in advance of the booking date.