The Hawai‘i Convention Center attracted a small but resolved group of demonstrators Thursday advocating for faster fixes to the state’s chronically backlogged unemployment system.
About a dozen members and supporters of a coalition supporting thousands of displaced workers picked the convention center on the outskirts of Waikiki because the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is paying to rent meeting rooms inside the state-owned facility for a call center while refusing to allow in-person help by appointment for jobless individuals with long-standing unemployment insurance claim problems.
“This is not OK one year later,” said Mary Ochs, a volunteer with the Hawaii Workers Center who is employed with a nonprofit but held a sign on behalf of others that read, “We can’t wait forever. Where is our UI money?”
The demonstration followed one held two weeks ago during which about 200 people called for unemployment system changes outside DLIR’s closed unemployment office downtown before marching to the state Capitol to make speeches that were heard by several lawmakers.
Though Thursday’s event was small by comparison, John Witeck, a Workers Center organizer, said the coalition intends to keep pressing its message in public because too many people are suffering and unemployment system improvements are moving too slowly.
“Some people are getting through but it’s a very small number,” he said.
To date, DLIR has received about 609,000 claims and paid out $5 billion in regular or special state and federal benefits.
Yet despite making some computer upgrades to a still-antiquated system and using volunteers and contractors to help process claims, DLIR remains backlogged to an extent that has frustrated many people as they encounter incessantly busy phone lines and wait months for badly needed unemployment income.
Asami Hatcher, an out-of-work telephone operator at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani hotel in Waikiki, said she has an unpaid unemployment insurance claim that has been pending since October.
“I called many times,” she said while holding a sign on a Kapiolani Boulevard sidewalk fronting the convention center. “But every time I call, I was told to please wait for an examiner. Nothing changed.”
Hatcher and other demonstrators were told by convention center security and Honolulu Police Department officers that they had to stay on sidewalks closest to the street and could not encroach on walkways and plaza areas closer to the building even though the facility is state property.
DLIR has been using the facility since April, and currently employs 111 call center agents and claim adjudicators inside.
State operators of the convention center have charged DLIR $2.7 million for space and “event fees” over the past 10 months, which has led to criticism that limited DLIR funding should be going toward helping the unemployed instead of another state entity.
House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke recently said that convention center charges have thwarted DLIR’s ability to hire more staff to handle more claims.
DLIR spokesman William Kunstman said Thursday that staffing challenges are multifaceted. He said issues include being able to offer only limited-time jobs that hurt recruitment, and workers not staying on because the job can be complex and heart-wrenching.
Organizers of Thursday’s rally said they commend diligent work and efforts by call center staff, who aren’t to blame for DLIR troubles.
Still, more needs to be done to process claims, according to the coalition that includes three unions — Unite Here Local 5, the Hawaii Nurses Association and the Hawaii State Teachers Staff Organization — and several other organizations including Living Wage Hawaii, Faith Action for Community Equity, Pono Hawaii Initiative and the Workers Center.
Nanea Lo, who lost hours working at the nonprofit Native Stories a year ago, found part-time work in January with one coalition member, the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action. But she said she received only four months of unemployment compensation — all paid in July after a four-month wait — and nothing after that.
So on Thursday while DLIR staffers fielded calls in the convention center, Lo stood outside with a sign that said, “Defend and respect Hawaii workers.”
“I’m still waiting for unemployment benefits,” she said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Nanea Lo's job status at Native Stories.
