Unionized workers at the Pacific Beach Hotel filed a new unfair labor practice against the hotel ownership this week, bringing to more than 20 the official complaints filed by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union against the Waikiki property.

"Our new filing charges that employees are being required to sign a promise not to speak ill of the hotel in public," said ILWU spokesman Dave Mori. "They call it a conflict of interest agreement. We call it a loyalty oath."

It comes at a time when many once-happy employees of the hotel are inclined to speak ill of it. Since the death of founder H.T. Hiyashi, the hotel has signed a contract with Outrigger to manage the property, then canceled the contract, taking direct management control back effective this weekend.

In preparation for that, the ownership asked more than 500 employees to reapply for their own jobs, and more than 50, including several managers, have apparently not been offered employment. Several have been offered jobs other than the positions they held, sometimes for decades. And everyone has been told he's on probation.

"We have worked very hard to provide as many jobs as possible," said Robert Mineola, regional vice president for HTH Corp., in a statement Thursday. "It is unfortunate that we cannot provide jobs for everyone."

Mori replies that the hotel has been subcontracting housekeeping work at a time when some staff housekeepers are not being extended job offers.

He also says seven of the 11 members of the union negotiating team have not gotten job offers, and the same is true of several other people who have taken active roles with the ILWU.

The hotel has also filed its own unfair labor practices against the union. Adjudicating such charges can take months.

A spokesman for the ownership of the hotel said the owners did not feel they could say about the situation before they retook management control of the hotel staff on Saturday

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