Solidarity Begins to Go Nationwide

Honolulu, October 29 -- Shortly after 3 am this morning, a group
of locked out hotel workers from the Sheraton Palace hotel in
San Francisco began picketing the employee entrance of the
Sheraton Waikiki and Royal Hawaiian hotels. Currently 4,000
hotel workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 2, have been
locked-out by 14 hotels in San Francisco.

UNITE HERE Local 5, which represents the workers at all four
Sheratons in Waikiki, informed management that the picket was a
lawful picket line and had been approved by Local 5. Based on
Local 5's contract language, union members at the two hotels
have the right to respect the picket line without being
disciplined.

"We expect the vast majority of workers to respect Local 2's
picket line" said Eric Gill, Local 5's Financial
Secretary-Treasurer. "Our members know that Local 2's fight is
our fight. If hotel workers in San Francisco are forced to pay
for their medical coverage then we will be next. Our members in
Hawaii also support the efforts of hotel workers in San
Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC to negotiate contracts
that expire in 2006, when our contract expires."

The Sheraton Palace in San Francisco, as are the four Sheratons
in Waikiki and the Sheraton Maui, is owned by Kyo-Ya Co. Ltd.
and operated by Starwood. Due to a lack of progress in talks for
a city-wide hotel contract, Local 2 struck four downtown hotels
for a limited 2-week period. The other 10 hotels, including the
Sheraton Palace, who are part of the San Francisco
Multi-Employer Group chose to lock-out their employees. The
Multi-Employer Group has extended the lock-out at all 14 hotels
beyond the two week strike, which would have ended October 13.

"The Sheratons in Hawaii have been sending non-union staff to be
strike breakers at the Sheraton Palace in San Francisco" said
Hernando Tan, Local 5's President. "They entered into the fight
in San Francisco, so they should not be surprised that that
fight followed them back to Hawaii."

To find out where hotel employees are on strike, prevented from
going to work by their employer, or potentially affected by a
labor dispute, visit our free Hotel & Casino Guide at
http://www.HotelLaborAdvisor.info . You can also search the Guide to
find alternative hotels "safe" from labor unrest.