Contractors keep their crews busy during strike
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Contractors are struggling to find work for their crews as O'ahu's concrete workers' strike enters its sixth day.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
No contract negotiations were held yesterday and none were scheduled between 211 members of Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 and Ameron Hawaii and Hawaiian Cement, O'ahu's two largest concrete companies.
At the Wal-Mart project, scheduled work is being moved around to keep crews occupied during the concrete strike. From left: Leslie Toyota, Frank Costa and Jacob Naweli.
Ameron workers went on strike Friday over the issues of sick days and increasing employee medical payments. Hawaiian Cement workers walked out Saturday over the same issues.
Ryan Wada, president of concrete contractor Quality General Inc., began laying off half of his 100 employees yesterday because they had no deliveries of concrete — and therefore no work.
"I anticipate making additional cuts next week," Wada said.
"That is the bare reality."
If his experience is any indication, Wada expects the ramifications of the strike to multiply in the next several days.
"I believe (the number of layoffs) will be in the thousands by the end of the week," Wada said. "It hits masons, iron workers, operating engineers, electricians and plumbers."
Carl Bonham, director of the Hawai'i research group of the University of Hawai'i's Economic Research Organization, said it's too soon to make accurate predictions on the strike's effect on Hawai'i's economy.
Any revenue lost from a short strike would most likely be made up later in the year, Bonham said.
"It's hurting families right now, clearly," he said. "But in terms of a measured effect on employment or tax revenues, as long as this ends quickly and the work gets done, it's not likely to have a serious repercussion on the economy. It's all about duration and nobody knows how long it will last, except the two parties."
A handful of large and small contractors struggled yesterday to keep any more construction workers' families from hurting.
Ron Taketa, financial secretary and business representative for the Hawaii Carpenters Union — the Islands' largest trade union — estimates that the construction slowdown has cost two to three dozen carpenters their jobs.
The overwhelming majority of active union carpenters — an estimated 2,800 on O'ahu — remain employed partially because of the efforts of contractors to keep them busy, Taketa said.
"Without concrete work, there's only so much they can do," Taketa said. "But some contractors are doing everything possible to keep our people employed. We really appreciate the loyalty of the contractors who do that."
The absence of concrete at the Wal-Mart/Sam's Club going up at the "Ke'eaumoku superblock" means Dick Pacific officials have to figure out what the 150 laborers can do to keep working.
Frank Costa, 33, normally would be smoothing out concrete. Instead, yesterday he was busy discarding rubbish that normally wouldn't be cleaned up until the end of the project.
Leslie Toyota, a 54-year-old carpenter foreman, installed doors that weren't supposed to go up until much later.
And mason finisher Jacob Naweli, 56, patched precast concrete work for the parking area instead of pouring concrete slabs.
Dick Pacific officials could have laid off workers. But there would be no guarantee they would get the same workers back and they then might have to retrain new ones.
"This is work you've got to do eventually, so why not just do it now?" said project manager Eric A. Perez. "It keeps the guys busy."
There are also more humane reasons to work around the concrete strike, Perez said.
"Everybody has mortgages and bills to pay," Perez said. "We want to think that we're doing the right thing."
It's that sentiment that prompted Naweli to say: "Dick Pacific always take care of their people."
But Dick Pacific officials can't promise to keep workers employed if the strike drags on much longer.
"This week we know we have a lot of work to do," Perez said. "Next week, we'll see. It'll be on a week-to-week basis."
Henry Iida had his 12 carpenters erecting a dust barrier yesterday for a low-income housing project in Makakilo instead of working on their normal assignments.
They've been hit by a slowdown since the first day of the strike and even have had to mix concrete by hand.
"When we don't get our (concrete) pours, then we're working inefficiently," Iida said.
But instead of laying off workers, Iida chose to follow the simple lessons he learned from his late father, Tomitaro Iida, who founded Iida Contracting.
"It was a philosophy that my father taught us," Iida said. "Help people."
Advertiser Staff Writer Debbie Sokei contributed to this report.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
