Pressure mounts on bus union

By Mike Leidemann and Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawai'i Teamsters are under the gun.

Much anger has been directed at Mel Kahele, president of Hawaii'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996.

"I can't think of anything they can do at this point to redeem the situation," said Helen Varner, dean of the College of Communication at Hawai'i Pacific University. "The whole strike has been a textbook lesson in how not to communicate."

With calls to talk radio, letters to the editors and even the occasional vulgarity shouted at union pickets, the public has been showing its frustration with the way the strike has been handled, Varner said.

Much of the anger has been directed at Mel Kahele, president of Hawaii'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, which represents more than 1,300 O'ahu Transit Services bus workers who walked off the job Aug. 26.

Varner said the union has failed to get its message across to the public in a clear, consistent manner.

"The city has a simple, constant message: No money," Varner said. And in Mayor Jeremy Harris it has a confident spokesman who knows how to communicate, she said.

The union, on the other hand, has had to convey a complicated, emotional message about protecting jobs and fighting for raises at a time when other unions have accepted pay freezes.

"Kahele isn't as polished a speaker," she said. "He shifts from foot to foot, backs away from the camera, and by doing that conveys a defensive, nervous position."

Kahele in recent weeks has made contradictory statements at least twice on the critical issue of wages.

After stating for days that wages were not a significant issue, Kahele said on Aug. 28 during a post-negotiating news conference that the company was not being fair or reasonable on its wage position.

That prompted a reporter to ask if, after telling the public that wages were not an issue, the union position had changed. "Well, for the first year, wages is not the issue," Kahele responded.

Pressed if wage increases are an issue for the second and third years, Kahele said: "No comment on that one."

Kahele later explained that while wages were not an issue for the union in its decision to strike, they became one once the strike began.

On Thursday morning, Kahele said that the union would consider no wage increases in the second year of the contract. By the time negotiations began in the afternoon, however, he told reporters that he had yet to discuss the idea with his bargaining team.

By the time negotiations broke early Friday morning, Kahele said he had not gone to his bargaining team because federal mediator Carol Catanzariti told him "the company is not in agreement with the federal mediator's idea of zero-zero and some increases for the third year."

A union member for 23 years, Kahele served as a foreman for Gasco Inc. before assuming the union leadership full time after the death of former president Michael Chambrella in 1996.

A large man with the letters L-O-V-E tattooed across his left hand, Kahele has withstood several election challenges to remain president of the local, which also represents truckers, laundry workers and meat cutters.

After helping the union reach a new bus contract in 2000 that included pay raises of 6.5 percent over three years, Kahele was re-elected again. He is up for election again in November.

Even some of Kahele's supporters admit that he's not a perfect communicator.

"Some of the time he says things off the top of his head and people take it the wrong way," said Jerry Teves, a bus driver for 28 years. "We've got to do a better job of educating the public because we need that support."

Teves said union members need to remain united and stop disagreeing publicly with their leaders, especially on the radio.

"If they're going to go public, they should at least tell the truth," he said.

Varner said the union has to communicate effectively with its members, as well.

"The worst thing you can do in the strike is show a lack of cohesiveness. The group has to stick together," she said.

Kahele and others say the media has not reported its positions accurately. The union has called a meeting of its members for this afternoon to address, in part, the misconceptions Kahele feels have been put out by the media.

As for the public, the union might have been better served by negotiating privately, Varner said.

"You take your message to the public when you can see that it's to your advantage," she said. "In this case they made a terrible mistake. It's not something that's playing well with the public."

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com. Reach Gordon Pang at 525-8070 or gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.