Dwight C. Steele, 88, labor negotiator

By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Dwight C. Steele, a well-known labor negotiator who once sat across the table from such union leaders as Jack Hall and Harry Bridges of the ILWU and Art Rutledge of the Teamsters, died July 11 in California. He was 88.

Steele was active in collective bargaining for Hawai'i's major industries from 1946 to 1960.

He was a negotiator for employers in the 1946 sugar strike, which lasted 79 days, and during the 1949 longshoremen's strike, which lasted 177 days.

He was elected president in 1947 of Hawaii Employers Council, which represented more than 200 local employers during Steele's time, including the sugar, pineapple and shipping industries.

In 1960 he moved back to California, where he became an acclaimed conservationist who was named as one of the "urban legends" among Bay Area environmentalists by Sierra magazine in 2000. Recently named a co-winner of the 2002 Chevron Texaco conservation Award, Steele gave up his successful labor practice in the mid-'60s to work for environmental causes.

Two memorial services will be held in California in August.

Steele is survived by his wife, Alberta; daughters Marilyn Steele and Diane Smith; brother Roger; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.