Hawaii Hotels Cut Services in Strike

HONOLULU —  Thousands of workers at some of Hawaii’s biggest hotels walked off the job Saturday, leaving some guests without fresh sheets and towels and otherwise disrupting the state’s $6-billion-a-year tourist industry.

Many hotels were forced to cut back on meal and room services as managers scrambled to take the places of strikers.

A spokesman for the hotel industry said the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union had rejected a four-year contract that called for annual wage increases of 5% plus hikes in benefits that boosted the total package to around 7%.

However, a union spokesman calculated the management proposal at about 4%.