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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Labor leaders defend union credibility

 •  Rodrigues guilty of union fraud
 •  Labor prospered under Rodrigues

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Labor leaders and analysts were quick to defend Hawai'i's labor movement yesterday, hoping to distance it from the guilty verdicts against United Public Workers leader Gary Rodrigues and his daughter.

"It would be a mistake for people to think there's something wrong endemically with the labor movement or with unions in Hawai'i because something like this should happen," said William Puette, director of the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu.

"There are still a lot of people out there who are doing the right thing in their unions, and we shouldn't generalize and use this as an opportunity to come down on the labor movement in general," Puette said.

The guilty verdicts in the Rodrigues fraud trial come at a pivotal time for the state's labor unions. Although their influence over Hawai'i's work force has waned with the closing of many sugar and pineapple plantations in the 1990s, they still represent nearly one quarter of the state's work force. As Hawai'i continues to struggle with the effects of the Sept. 11 attacks and a 10-year economic slump, once-isolated labor unions are finding strength in solidarity as they negotiate contracts with employers who say they are focused more sharply than ever on their shrinking revenues.

But Rodrigues — state director of the UPW and a longtime president of umbrella organization the Hawai'i State Federation of the AFL-CIO — has been largely absent from the state labor scene since the initial indictment against him was issued in March 2001, some observers said.

"Formerly, Gary played a prominent role in the labor movement; he headed the AFL-CIO for several years," said Eric Gill, financial secretary-treasurer of Local 5 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union.

"Since the indictment came out, he's basically been out of touch. We haven't seen him and therefore what has been the third-largest union in Hawai'i has not weighed in."

Gill said it is important for those reviewing the trial to draw a distinction between Rodrigues and the union members he represented.

"The fact is the public and the media tend to focus in on the leader and the personality of the leader and the personal strengths and weaknesses of the leader, but that's not really what the union is," Gill said.

"What the union is, is thousands of members and hundreds of rank-and-file leaders who have a common interest and are organized together to do that. The real question is what are the members of UPW going to do to get themselves strengthened, and I think they'll do fine."

Rodrigues had sparred repeatedly over the past eight years with Gov. Ben Cayetano, most recently over a bill to allow the state to privatize government services. Rodrigues warned that the measure would lead to massive layoffs, but Cayetano favored the bill as a way to make government more efficient and signed it into law. Rodrigues, however, reached a critical agreement with Cayetano in 2000 to grant UPW workers raises for last year and this year.

State Rep. Scott Saiki, D-22 (McCully, Pawa'a), who chaired the House Labor and Public Employment Committee, said Rodrigues' conviction proves that the Legislature's action in 2000 that essentially eliminated union-managed plans for public employees was the right move.

"The Legislature took a beating when we made those reforms two years ago, but one of the reasons we changed the system was due to the potential for abuse. And I think this criminal case highlights the kind of abuse we were concerned about," Saiki said.

Ron Taketa, financial secretary and business representative for the Hawaii Carpenters Union, said he did not want to comment on yesterday's verdicts, but said "the labor movement has done so much to advance the cause not only of working families, but the community in Hawai'i, that I think the public will understand that, even in the worst-case scenario, this is an exception."

Bob Mielke, a member of the UPW executive board, said he doubts the conviction will do any great damage to the union. Others in the UPW are ready to step up to take over, he said.

The UPW contracts with the state and counties expire on June 30, and the union has been negotiating for a new agreement.

Mielke and other executive board members sat through much of the trial to show support for Rodrigues.

"I didn't see anything proven. It's all hearsay. I think it's a travesty of justice," Mielke said. "It's just too bad the federal government can do this. If they can do it to them, they can do it to everybody."

Puette said he felt sorry for Rodrigues and his situation. "At one point he was a really strong and clear voice for the labor movement, and it's sad this had to happen. On the other hand, I am also not happy with the fact that the prosecutors said Gary Rodrigues is the ... (United Public Workers union)," Puette said.

"Gary Rodrigues is not the UPW, and this trial was not about the UPW; it was about Gary Rodrigues. I'm hoping that the union will be able to pull itself together after this."

Advertiser Staff Writers Kevin Dayton and Gordon Y.K. Pang contributed to this report.