Tug workers strike halts many deliveries

By Dan Nakaso and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Barges full of everything from toilet paper to new cars destined for the Neighbor Islands sat idle at Honolulu docks yesterday as 60 tugboat crew members went on strike against Hawaiian Tug & Barge and Young Brothers. Another 50 to 60 longshoremen failed to show up for work.

Young Brothers tugboats sit idle in Honolulu Harbor on the first day of a strike by members of the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The negotiations broke down two hours before the expiration of the old contract over accumulated time off, in which tugboat crews build up paid leave every time they set out to sea. Union negotiators wanted to double the time off their members earn. Company officials were willing to raise the amount by only half.

The strike immediately delayed a barge headed for Lana'i, kept new cargo from coming into Young Brothers docks and left goods sitting idle as harried managers drove forklifts and took over other duties for absent members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Young Brothers has the only Public Utilities Commission license to provide regularly scheduled barge service to all of the Hawaiian Islands and needs to fulfill its PUC obligations, said Bill Chung, the companies' vice president of personnel and industrial relations and a member of the management negotiating committee. So Young Brothers will have to hire one or more of its competitors to keep up Neighbor Island barge service, Chung said.

The company's motto is "Lifeline of the Hawaiian Islands" and yesterday's strike immediately caused problems on every island.

Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge canceled three barge trips yesterday — to Maui, the Big Island and Kaua'i.

By yesterday afternoon, Molokai's Friendly market was out of rice. "It's gone," vice president Crystal Egusa said. "We just ran out."

"People are panicking," said Shirley Rawlins of Kaunakakai's Rawlins Chevron Service, which expects to quickly run out of items in its convenience store.

Mark Teruya, president of Armstrong Produce Ltd., the state's largest produce distributor, said the strike will hurt the Neighbor Islands the most — just as people prepare for the Fourth of July weekend.

Laurence Vogel, president and CEO of grocery supplier Y. Hata & Co. Ltd., characterized the mood at a company meeting yesterday to discuss the strike as "high anxiety." Y. Hata's options, Vogel said, were limited — "air, air and air."

At the Lodge at Koele and Manele Bay Hotel on Lana'i, "our concern is fresh food," said Matthew Hart, vice president at Castle & Cooke, which operates the lodge and hotel. If the strike drags on, Hart said, "someone's got to step in."

A federal mediator talked with both sides yesterday, but no new contract talks were scheduled.

There was no sign that either side was willing to compromise on the issue of accumulated time off. They also disputed many of the key facts.

Crew members earn four hours of accumulated time off for every day at sea, Chung said. Union negotiators wanted to increase the amount to eight hours, Chung said. Company negotiators offered six hours of accumulated time off, Chung said.

Jonathon Lono Kane, regional director of the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific, said union negotiators proposed increasing the amount of accumulated time off by one hour for every year of a new four-year contract for a total of four hours. Company negotiators instead offered five hours for the first year and six hours in either the second or third years, Kane said. Chung said the talks broke off when union members said they would agree to six hours but would also want an increase in pay.

Kane said union officials never asked for a pay raise. Instead, Kane said, union negotiators made a presentation and showed that increasing accumulated time off would have little effect on the company's finances.

"We showed them how they could afford it," Kane said. "When they came back with their proposal, they agreed that they could afford our proposal, but they weren't going to give it to us. They said they had a mandate from somebody above them that this is all we're going to get. That's what broke off negotiations."

Tugboat crew members carry an average of 97.5 days of accumulated time off and can roll over time from year to year, Chung said. The union's request for more accumulated time off was "unreasonable and more than the company was willing to agree to," Chung said.

Tugboat crews work various shifts, but average about 10 hours a day five days a week, Chung said. Typical union employees earn between $67,000 to $70,000 per year, he said. Some can make as much as $100,000 a year for only eight months of work, he said.

Kane disagreed.

Union members average $60,000 a year, including overtime and accumulated time off, Kane said.

"The guy that made $100,000, he worked 300 days," Kane said. "Does that equal eight months? I don't think so. These guys average in excess of 3,000 hours per year. Their average pay rate is $17.65 per hour.

"Our members are out at sea on the tugboats for up to three days straight and are on duty 24 hours a day. Eight hours later, they load and go out again. The accumulated time off ratio is an issue of health and safety, and this is the message we tried unsuccessfully to convey to management."

Out of 360 to 370 employees, an estimated 60 are covered by collective bargaining agreements, Chung said.

With Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge work creeping along slowly or idled yesterday on Piers 20, 24 and 40, Chung said company officials may consider hiring new workers to replace those on strike. But Chung acknowledged that it will be difficult to find qualified employees who have all of the required Coast Guard licenses.

The two companies operate a fleet of 13 tugs and 10 barges. Hawaiian Tug & Barge provides 45 percent of the so-called "ship assist" work for Honolulu Harbor and 100 percent of the Neighbor Island ship assist work.

The absence of tugboat assistance meant that Norwegian Cruise Line's new Pride of Aloha had to settle into a berth at Kaua'i's Nawiliwili Harbor by itself Wednesday morning. It normally requires docking assistance from Hawaiian Tug & Barge in Kaua'i, said Scott Ishikawa, state transportation spokesman.

"Because the weather conditions were sufficient, harbor officials decided to let them come in on their own," Ishikawa said. "It has thrusters and can maneuver to the dock." The Pride of Aloha left at 1 p.m. yesterday for a cruise along Kaua'i's Napali Coast and is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu Harbor at 7 this morning.

The SS Great Land, owned and operated by Matson Navigation Co., was scheduled to berth yesterday morning at Kahului Harbor with a load of cars but could not because of the strike, said Matson spokesman Jeff Hull. It was able to berth later in the day with the help of a Sause Brothers tug, which regularly tows Matson-owned barges, Hull said.

Because the car-and-truck-laden container ships require tug assistance in harbors, Matson will have to figure out what to do during the strike.

The strike meant more activity immediately for Sause Brothers, which was bombarded by "tons of calls from people who are trying to move their stuff to the outer islands," said Doug Won, the company's vice president and area manager.

But, Won said, "There is nobody who could pick up the slack."

Young Brothers has "a PUC license and have all this equipment," Won said. "I only have one barge here that could do it, and it is already under contract to someone else. And I don't have a PUC license."

News of the strike caught Neighbor Island businesses by surprise.

"We woke up and it was, 'The barge is not coming. What?' " said Lloyd Nishima of Kula Produce Co. on Maui. "We have to supply the people of Maui," Nishima said. "Without the barge, Maui's economy is hindered. Everyone is affected."

By the time word spread, The Pine Isle Market on Lana'i imposed a one-bag limit on rice and will probably do something similar with toilet paper, said Pine Isle Market manager Kerry Honda.

"We should last another week," Honda said, "as long as people don't start getting crazy."

Advertiser staff writers Rod Ohira, Kevin Dayton, Jan TenBruggencate and Christie Wilson contributed to this report. Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085 or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.