Rapid Response Team activated to assist Hotel Hana Maui employees

(Posted by Wendy Osher)

The Hawai‘i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has activated its Rapid Response Team to assist Hotel Hana Maui employees.  Ohana Hotel Company sold the 70-room hotel to Amstar Group LLC, a Denver-based real estate investment and development company.  The hotel is being managed by Amstar’s subsidiary, Green Tea LLC.

Hana panoramic photo by Wendy Osher. 2010.

Officials with the new company said the sale would mean a reduction in jobs in the short term.  DLIR Director Darwin L.D. Ching and his staff have been in contact with the Hotel Hana Maui management as well as the employees, and had plans to conduct a Rapid Response session this morning.

The Rapid Response Team is composed of staff from the DLIR’s Workforce Development Division and Unemployment Insurance Division.  The Team plans to provide information on an array of available services for the affected workers, including skills assessment, individual counseling, career planning, employment development, occupational skills training, on-the-job training, entrepreneurial training, job-readiness training and adult education.  Participants will also be provided information regarding welfare assistance and medical benefits.  Participants may also receive out-of-area job search assistance, relocation assistance and other related supportive services.  Support services may include childcare, transportation assistance and job related certifications, uniforms and equipment.

“Our Department is working to ensure that the soon-to-be former Hotel Hana Maui workers are given every possible opportunity to find meaningful employment and to have the ability to provide for themselves and their families during this difficult time of transition,” said Ching.