Sheraton Kauaʻi hotel workers ratify contract after historic Labor Day strike

Workers at the Sheraton Kauaʻi Resort in Poipu represented by UNITE HERE Local 5 voted by an overwhelming majority to ratify their new contract on Thursday.

The Sheraton Kauaʻi Resort was the only resort on a neighbor island to join seven Waikīkī hotels in the historic 3-day hotel strike over Labor Day Weekend, which was the largest strike of Hawai‘i hotel workers since 1990.

The strike came after a vote in August when 91% of workers at the Sheraton Kauaʻi voted to give the unionʻs negotiating committee the ability to call a strike at any time as they called for a raise in wages, a reverse in staff cuts and protections for guest services and amenities jobs.

As of today, they are the seventh hotel to settle their contract. Approximately 500 workers are still working without a contract at the Hyatt Regency Waikīkī and could strike at any time.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village was the first hotel to settle their contract after a 40-day strike impacting over 1,800 hotel workers in positions throughout the hotel such as housekeepers, front desk agents, restaurant staff and maintenance workers.  

Nearly 5,000 hotel workers at eight Hawai‘i hotels have ratified new contracts this month including the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Sheraton Waikīkī, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Westin Moana Surfrider, Waikīkī Beach Marriott, Sheraton Princess Kaʻiulani, Sheraton Kauaʻi and Sheraton Maui. 

Local 5 represents 10,000 workers throughout Hawaii who work in the hospitality, health care and food service industries and is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, an international union that represents over 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada.