Tugboat union, company resume negotiations today
By Dan Nakaso and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers
Contract talks were scheduled to resume this morning for the first time since 60 unionized employees of Hawaiian Tug & Barge and Young Brothers Ltd. walked off the job Thursday morning, shutting down critical barge deliveries to islands such as Lana'i.
Both sides expressed optimism over the resumption of the negotiations which broke off Wednesday night, causing Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge to indefinitely cease barge operations.
"We're willing to listen and see what can be crafted to work for both sides," said Glenn Hong, the president of the sister companies owned by Saltchuk Resources Inc. of Seattle.
Jonathon Lono Kane, regional director of the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific, said: "The union is always hopeful. Everybody's hanging together and spirits are high since the company called us back to the table."
Tugboat union officials said the breakdown in contract negotiations centered on the complicated issue of 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.
Management negotiators said the talks broke down when union officials wanted more pay in exchange for six hours of accumulated time off.
Union negotiators said they never asked for more pay. The talks broke off, they said, when the company wanted to reduce the number of tugboat crew members from six to five and require that overtime be paid after working 12 hours, instead of eight hours.
"We've been running ragged with six guys and they want to take away another person," said Kenneth Sanders, who is on the union negotiating committee. "This just pushed us over the edge. We give 200 percent to these people no matter what. Despite bad conditions, we keep 'em going. For six hours of (accumulated time off) we would have to lose one man out of a six-man crew. I would never sell out another union member just to get a dollar. You don't give up your people."
Another 50 to 60 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union also did not show up for work Thursday, causing further delays in loading and unloading barges along Pier 40. Hong said several ILWU members returned to work yesterday, but he said he did not know the exact number. Asked if the ILWU members face disciplinary action, Hong said: "We're working those issues through to make sure it's clear what the understanding is. We are not at the point of determining what actions, if any, there may be and there may not be any."
The Fourth of July weekend on Lana'i will be quieter than usual because of the tugboat strike.
A $17,000 shipment of fireworks is not going to arrive in time for tomorrow's planned Fourth of July aerial display at Hulopo'e Bay, and neither will a sound system for tonight's Ceci-
lio & Kapono concert at the annual Pineapple Festival in Dole Park.
"We're going to have an 'ukulele and sparklers," joked Matthew Hart, vice president of Castle & Cooke Resorts on Lana'i.
In Kawaihae on the Big Island, about 25 containers of bottled, desalinated seawater scheduled to be shipped to Japan for sale yesterday remained stacked on the pier, stalled until further notice.
Koyo USA Corp. at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Ha-
wai'i produces about 120,000 to 150,000 bottles a day for Japan, shipping out about 50 containers a week. The seawater is marketed as a dietary supplement.
To continue operating, the company needs about 20 incoming containers each week of supplies such as plastic, caps, cardboard boxes and labels, company project manager Hiro-
shi Usami said.
Usami estimated the plant has a supply stockpile that would allow it to continue operations for about two weeks without resupply, but the company cannot simply keep piling up containers at the pier, Usami said.
If the strike continues into next week, it will begin to cost the company money, with Usami estimating that each day of production produces bottled water worth roughly $100,000 in sales.
The company has no alternative but to wait out the strike, he said. "I wish somebody could step in right away" to mediate a settlement, he said.
Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday said her administration "could potentially" get involved in the strike should it begin to affect the health and safety of Neighbor Island residents.
Lingle said she has had "very preliminary discussions" with Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, who as state adjutant general commands the Hawai'i National Guard, about possibly getting help from the military to move supplies.
The strike has resulted in a deluge of calls for air cargo service for Hawai'i's two major airlines — Aloha and Hawaiian.
"The phone has been ringing off the hook," said Aloha spokes-
man Stu Glauberman. "But our freight cargo operation has been pretty much booked for the Fourth of July weekend, so we've been doing as much as we can. We hope to pick up some business Sunday and Monday."
Aloha yesterday still flew three times more cargo than normal, Glauberman said. More than 88,000 pounds of cargo was flown out of Hilo and more than 38,000 pounds out of Lihu'e.
"We picked up a lot of papayas in Hilo," he said.
Each night, Aloha switches from passengers to cargo and flies 12 to 15 flights among the Neighbor Islands.
Hawaiian handles cargo, space permitting, during its daytime-only flights, a spokesman said. Since the strike began, Hawaiian has doubled its normal cargo business. By 10 a.m. today, Hawaiian shipped out 65,000 pounds from Honolulu to the Neighbor Islands.
For produce manufacturers and distributors, however, switching from barges to air cargo doesn't offer a long-term solution because of the limits of space and costs that are 5 1/2 to six times higher, said Mark Teruya, president of Armstrong Produce Ltd., Hawai'i's largest produce distributor.
Armstrong was flying in a shipment of papayas from Hilo yesterday and today that had been stranded by the strike, Teruya said.
But Armstrong's Maui operation couldn't get space on an Aloha flight Thursday night for seven pallets of produce. Armstrong officials were trying to rebook a flight for last night.
"Our Neighbor Island growers are concerned about getting fruit over here," Teruya said.
One farmer on Moloka'i, where barge service has been indefinitely discontinued because of the strike, decided against shipping his goods to O'ahu by air freight because of the cost, Teruya said.
"He'll probably have to store the product on Moloka'i or he might have to dump it," Teruya said. "You can't keep produce forever. It doesn't have that much of a shelf life."
Advertiser staff writers Christie Wilson and Kevin Dayton contributed to this report. Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085 or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.
