Posted on: Friday, February 27, 2004
Building firms to lay off hundreds of workers
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Several hundred construction workers will be laid off in the next week as the economic hardship expands from O'ahu's 22-day-old concrete strike.
"It's something we can't do much about, except to pray," said Marcus Gillespie, the owner and president of Sunrise Construction Inc., which builds house frames for Schuler Homes Hawaii Inc., Stanford Carr Development Corp. and Armstrong Builders Ltd.
Like other construction companies, Sunrise has to lay off more employees today — another 20 of his 160 union carpenters.
"We've already laid off 10," Gillespie said, "and we're expecting to probably let go of another 30 to 40 guys next Friday."
About half a dozen companies also plan to lay off a similar number of workers, said Ron Taketa, financial secretary and business representative for the Hawaii Carpenters Union, the largest of the Islands' trade unions.
Until today, O'ahu developers and contractors were able to cobble together enough odd jobs at construction sites to keep many workers busy — at least part time.
But with no concrete deliveries, work has slowed to a crawl and even stopped. Now even the part-time work is ending, leading to more layoffs, Taketa said.
"The work is running out," Taketa said. "We expect the numbers (of unemployed) to escalate dramatically — several hundred, at least." The strike began on Feb. 6 when 144 members of the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 set up picket lines around Ameron Hawaii. Another 67 Teamsters who work for Hawaiian Cement went on strike the following day.
Talks between the Teamsters and Hawaiian Cement broke off on Wednesday, with no timetable to resume the negotiations. No talks have been held between the Teamsters and Ameron Hawaii since Feb. 7.
The issues are similar at both companies: sick leave and employee contributions to healthcare plans.
Since the strike began, Taketa said he has appreciated the efforts of contractors to adjust workers' schedules to provide enough hours — at least 100 per month — to qualify for health benefits.
"While companies have been really good about rotating our members, if there's no work to be done, there's only so much you can do," Taketa said. "With no concrete by the end of this week and certainly next week, that kind of creative thinking won't work anymore."
Bruce Coppa, president of Pacific Resource Partnership, an advocacy group for union contractors, said: "This is getting ridiculous. It's really frustrating."
"This strike is having a lot of repercussions across the community," Coppa said. "At the end of this week, you're going to start to see some real telltale signs. Morale is an issue, and people's mortgages and car payments are in jeopardy."
Like other companies, general contractor Coastal Construction Inc. will begin laying off "at least" another 20 to 30 more construction workers a week as the strike drags on, vice president Les Masutani said.
"We're experiencing the same problems that everyone else is," Masutani said.
Until today, Coastal Construction has employed more than 500 workers at residential job sites in 'Ewa Beach, Ko Olina, Waipahu and Mililani.
Coastal Construction has tried to adjust workers' shifts to give as many of them at least part-time work, Masutani said.
"But even that's running out," Masutani said.
As the strike drags on, Masutani said, the number of layoffs will only increase.
Gillespie, of Sunrise Construction, finds himself rapidly running out of work for his crews, as well.
Instead, he's left with plenty of frustration.
"We can deal with pretty much anything else," Gillespie said. "But this is something that's totally out of our control."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
