Posted on: Thursday, November 22, 2001

Jobless sought for environmental workforce

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The newly jobless in Hawai'i are eager to get back to work, and in the next two weeks the state will start hiring 220 or more of them to fight dengue fever and help combat various pest problems.

The governor has signed a law establishing the Emergency Environmental Workforce, to be paid for with a $1.5 million appropriation. The program, reminiscent of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, is aimed at hiring workers laid off due to economic disaster — in this case, the tailspin stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The plan is to employ 220 to 250 people for a three-month period, with the state rolling out projects gradually over the next few months. The first is scheduled to launch Dec. 3, said Nelson Sakamoto, who heads human resources at the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai'i, the agency coordinating the new employment program.

It's not make-work, Sakamoto said: The islands have no shortage of environmental problems that demand prompt action. Cleanup projects to counter the spread of the mosquito-borne dengue fever seem paramount, especially on Maui, but Sakamoto said the coqui frogs that create a noisy nuisance on the Big Island and miconia plants that choke out native vegetation both have become critical concerns.

"Unfortunately, all are big problems and need attention," he said.

The research corporation is working with the UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit to schedule the work projects, he said, and those that are ready to roll the soonest will get money first.

"Mayor (James) Apana on Maui has his people quite organized, and so does Mayor (Harry) Kim on the Big Island," Sakamoto said.

Pay starts at $9.96 an hour but could go higher if workers demonstrate qualifications for a supervisory position, he said.

Application forms are available at all Workforce Development Division offices statewide, under the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in the phone directory's state office listings.