'Toy napigket nga daga
Pitpitenmi nga umuna
Danggayanmi't kankanta
Takkiagmi a napigsa
Kettang ken bannogmi
dikam igingina 

     Mannamili
     Ilokano Folk Song

ABSTRACT

The Local 5’s 2006 Campaign captures the image the hotel worker sector wishes to project to the public: "Hotel Workers Rising: Filipino Service Workers in the Hotel Industry and Local 5's 2006 Campaign."
 The metaphor of “rising” is that apt word to express a social consciousness getting awakened to the reality of the need for the hotel workers to close ranks and solidify their position of struggle and resistance to the dominance of unbridled capitalism at the expense of human labor that makes it possible for the hotel industry, veritably a labor-intensive business. In this presentation, the narratives of struggle and resistance during the sugarcane plantation period in the 1930s and today’s narratives of struggle and resistance by the hotel workers are brought into a parallel inquiry, with the parallelism in terms of the infrastructure of capital-labor relations highlighted to call attention to the continuing social drama of oppression committed against the ranks of workers who do not own the means of economic production in the hospitality industry—nor do they have access to the sources of capital that makes this industry run.   

The reflection bring into the fore some hard facts about sugarcane plantation labor and today’s make-up of the hospitality industry, with Filipinos being over-represented in the service occupations and underrepresented in the managerial and executive. Unionism continues to be a strong tradition in Hawai`i and this consciousness of fighting for what is fair and just has become both as a byword and a commitment to the respect and dignity accorded to all laborers.  In some instance in the reflections, the experiences of UNITE HERE! Local 5, a labor union in existence in Hawai`i for 70 years, will be cited to provide a context to the issues raised.  

UNITE HERE! Local 5 was chartered in 1938 and currently serves 11,000 members, about 60% of whom are of Filipino ancestry.  The discussion will cover historical and contemporary issues Local 5 and the Filipino community have been facing in relation to the hotel industry, currently nicknamed "the contemporary plantation system."  It will also discuss the impact of international investment corporation ownership on the hotel workers, especially the service workers, (e.g., Turtle Bay Resort) and the upcoming challenges of negotiating new contracts with these owners.  The main focal point will be the "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign, a national campaign involving sister unions from 10 cities.  Under this campaign, Local 5 is empowering, mobilizing, and organizing members while garnering community support in anticipation of negotiations to renew the contracts (expiring June 30, 2006) where members' job security, workload, wages and benefits –as well as the livelihood of the working middle class- are at stake. 

Nakem Centennial Conference Secretariat
E-mail: nakemconference@yahoo.com or precye@aol.com
Phone:  808-956-8405.  FAX:  808- 956-5978
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