The strike comes as economists project Hawai'i's construction spending to reach $5.4 billion this year, an increase of about 17 percent over last year and just short of the record set in 1991 during the height of the Japanese investment boom.

Representatives of Ameron and the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 did not meet yesterday. The union resumed talks with Hawaiian Cement at 6:30 p.m. yesterday, but they broke off at 10 p.m.

No new negotiations are scheduled on either front.

Teamsters members were picketing Ameron sites at Kapa'a Quarry, Sand Island and Campbell Isudtrial Park, Teamsters President Mel Kahele said at 12:05 this morning.

Shortly after 10 last night after more than three hours of negotiations with Hawaiian Cement, Kahele proclaimed: "The company still has their proposals on the table regarding takebacks in benefits. We're not going to tolerate that and we're going to go out on strike, Saturday morning, 12:01."

Hawaiian Cement Vice President Michael Coad said the company made some concessions. "To have successful negotiations there needs to be movement on both sides. From our standpoint there was no movement from the union," he said. "I am very disappointed. This work stoppage will have a dramatic impact."

Teamsters and Hawaiian Cement officials met last night with federal mediator Ken Kawamoto but were divided over the issues of increased medical co-payments for employees and reduced sick leave. Teamsters at Ameron Hawaii walked off their jobs over the same issues.

Even before last night's developments, state transportation officials canceled a concrete resurfacing project scheduled for this weekend at the H-1/Makakilo interchange.

Talk of a strike also disrupted plans this weekend for a major "pour" of nearly 1,600 cubic yards of concrete for the Albert C. Kobayashi company's 40-story, Hokua condominium project at Ala Moana and Auahi Street.

"We're getting calls from customers saying they're trying to manage their projects, manage their businesses," said George West, vice president of operations for Ameron Hawaii, which was prepared to face striking workers this morning at its Sand Island, Kapaa Quarry and Campbell Industrial Park operations.

"They want to know if the strike is on and how long it will last. We tell them, 'Unfortunately we have not been able to reach agreement. And we are very, very aware of the effects on their projects.' "

Teamsters leaders last night told about 50 cement truck drivers, welders, plant operators and quarry workers at union headquarters in Kalihi to be prepared as well to strike Hawaiian Cement's Halawa Valley operations beginning at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

Lawrence Boyd, a labor economist at the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu, estimates a concrete strike would idle 200 Teamster workers, indirectly cost another 237 non-union people their jobs, and lead to layoffs of 350 construction workers on large projects and 182 working on residential homes.

Boyd believes a strike would cost O'ahu's economy $2.3 million a week in direct and indirect lost revenue. The $2.3 million in weekly losses does not include the ripple effect of money that won't be spent because workers will be out of jobs.

"That's very conservative," Boyd said of his estimate.

The laid-off workers would have to wait seven days before applying for state unemployment benefits. The state would first make a determination whether they qualify for any payments.

"The construction industry has been one of the mainstays of our economy lately," said Kenneth Choate, executive vice president of Haseko Construction Inc. The company relies on concrete for the 200 homes under construction at its Ocean Pointe project in 'Ewa Beach.

"A lot of small contractors are going to get hurt a lot, as will the large contractors," he said.

A strike will be immediately felt at job sites across O'ahu, Choate said, and any delays will have to be made up later to keep projects on schedule.

"Everybody needs concrete — to form curbs, gutters, underground, pre-cast structures to make up electrical connections," Choate said. "Without concrete, we can't build any streets or gutters. We can't pour slabs, so the masons can go home. And when we run out of slabs to frame, the carpenters can go home. Then the homeowners don't get their homes in time."

Even before the strike deadline, the labor dispute was taking its toll.

Kevin Pena, president of a concrete sub-contracting company called Foundations Hawaii Inc., told 20 of his 50 employees yesterday at Ocean Pointe to stay home today because there won't be any work for them.

"A strike essentially shuts down our operation," Pena said. "But we're going to do our best to work our guys in where we can. ... As of today we have no orders on the books. We're not taking orders or fulfilling orders."

To take the sting out of the seven days they will lose while waiting for unemployment benefits, Pena told his employees that he will advance salaries to any workers who need them.

Ameron, which employs about 160 Teamsters, wants employees to pay 30 percent of their medical co-payments, up from 20 percent. Hawaiian Cement wants its 70 Teamsters members to pay 20 percent of their medical co-pay, Kahele said. They now pay nothing.

The union also wants to discuss reinstituting paid sick days at Ameron, which the company eliminated three years ago, Kahele said. Hawaiian Cement wants to reduce the amount of sick days by 50 percent, he said.

Both West of Ameron and Coad of Hawaiian Cement said they are willing to talk with the Teamsters.

"We began negotiations Nov. 10," West said. "Monday night we were willing to continue discussions and then the union gave a strike notification."

Coad said, "Personally I'm quite disappointed that the union has given us a strike notice. We're not at impasse, and it seems to me more appropriate for the discussions to continue."

Hawaiian Cement's medical, dental and vision plan costs $479 per month per employee, Coad said, and the company bears that alone. If the company gets its wish, the coverage would cost each worker about $95 monthly.

To make up for the costs, Coad said, employee pay would rise 30 cents per hour, or approximately $67 per month — which would still require employees to pay about $28 toward their medical benefits.

Teamsters concrete workers at the top of the pay scale now earn $25 an hour.

Hawaiian Cement officials hope to reduce medical costs while at the same time making employees more aware about healthcare issues, Coad said.

"A more astute, well-informed consumer knows that his choices will affect his co-payment," Coad said. "He might be inclined to order up a generic drug instead of a brand name. He might not be inclined to go into the emergency room because he has a runny nose. All of those behaviors are contributing to medical costs at Hawaiian Cement. If it's free, you really don't care."

Hawaiian Cement, which Coad said has the highest labor costs in the market, also needs to cut sick leave to remain competitive with Ameron, he said.

"The job generally goes to the lowest bidder," Choate said. "We need to sign a contract that's going to make us more competitive. And we just need to have some serious talks and acknowledgement from the union that we need to have some discussions."

The labor dispute has sent contractors flooding the phone lines of the four, smaller, non-union concrete companies on the island.

But with O'ahu's red-hot construction industry, all of the companies said they are already running at nearly full capacity.

"The phones are really busy," said F.H. "Shorty" Kuhn, vice president and general manager of Island Ready-Mix Concrete, the biggest of the four smaller companies with 15 trucks and 33 employees. "We can do some work, but no way we can take all of the volume. No way at all."

Mike Tangaro, the owner of Laie Trucking & Ready Mix Co. Ltd., said "people from all over have been calling. I'm pretty much booked already, and I'm worried about my own supply, too."