As of Sept. 10, workers at Kyo-ya-owned hotels have decided to strike for a fair contract, according to Local 5’s Unite Here.

After six strenuous negotiations, hotel workers in Honolulu saw no change for a fair contract and have had several meetings regarding an upcoming strike. 

“Everybody’s got to do what they got to do,” striker Godfrey Miyashiro said at the union meeting. “I have been arrested twice for this union.”

The official strike vote was held on Monday, Sept. 10 from 6:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Ala Moana Hotel’s Garden Lanai Ballroom. Maui hotel workers also voted that day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

1,997 people voted ‘yes’ and 105  people voted ‘no’ for a strike, which turned out to be 95 percent in favor of striking. 

“I’m voting ‘Yes’ because I don’t want to lose my benefits, especially my medical insurance,” Royal Hawaiian Hotel worker Janice Butin tweeted before the vote.

At a union meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 12, Local 5 members were informed on strike procedures and encouraged by the words of Union representatives and people who have been through it before.

“I want job security, so I’d rather sacrifice now than suffer later because I didn’t take this opportunity to fight,” Jean Teo Gibney said at the meeting.

There is no exact date for when the strike will occur, but workers say they are ready to fight for their share.

“Some of the benefits we have now, we didn’t fight for, the people before us did,” Gibney said.

Gemma Weinstein, Local 5 president, said the only reason the workers currently have medical benefits is that the union fought for it. She said workers need to participate for 30 hours a week, six hours a day to get a strike benefit of $300 dollars.

It is a federal law that a company can’t fire any hotel workers for joining in union activities, such as a strike.

“No one will lose their car, their house,” Weinstein said. “We will do everything for you guys.”

Twenty-five hotels in Chicago have been on strike for a week and six hotels on Oahu are ready for one. In Boston, a strike vote was also held with the result of a 96 percent ‘yes’ vote.