Tug worker contract talks extend into night

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Contract negotiations between the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific, and Young Brothers Ltd. and Hawaiian Tug & Barge were going into the night at the Hawaii Employers Council off Lagoon Drive.

The talks resumed yesterday at 9 a.m., broke off shortly before 1 p.m. and started again at 7 p.m.

Company negotiators had no comment on the progress of the talks.

The union negotiating team included David Freiboth, national president of the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific from Seattle. The union has said the dispute centers on accumulated time off.

Wesley Furtado, international vice president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Hawai'i, spoke for the union side.

"We were able to talk to the employer again and explain our position again. ... We made some changes to our proposals and they want to discuss it ... on their side of the table and see what they can come up with as a counterproposal to us," Furtado said.

"We're talking and we're talking sensibly."

Company representatives said a team of managers took the Aukai barge to Lana'i yesterday. It had been stranded since contract talks broke off Wednesday.

Lana'i has been cut off from its usual once-a-week service because of the strike.