Posted on: Friday, March 12, 2004

CONCRETE WORKERS STRIKE
Issues in cement strike widen

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Union and company negotiators in the 36-day-old concrete strike disagree not only on what benefits concrete workers deserve but also on who is refusing to meet with whom.

Teamsters President Mel Kahele said concrete talks scheduled for yesterday were called off because Ameron Hawaii — not the Teamsters — refused to discuss the sticky issue of employee contributions to their medical plan.

"We wanted to come back on the table and seriously discuss the healthcare issue," Kahele said yesterday. "The company did not want to discuss it. ... I'm not sure why it got so confused."

Officials at Ameron, the state's largest concrete provider, said they were willing to meet, but the Teamsters refused unless Ameron dropped its proposal to increase employees' share of their medical payments from 20 percent to 30 percent.

"We got the rug pulled out from our collective feet," George West, Ameron Hawaii's vice president of operations for O'ahu, said on Wednesday. "They will not meet with us for further talks unless we agree to take our healthcare proposal off the table. Period. ... We are not imposing any condition to the talks."

The latest developments show just how difficult it may be for the two sides to reach an agreement to end the strike. Meanwhile hundreds of construction workers are idle and millions of dollars in projects are stalled.

In addition to the conflict over who was refusing to talk, Kahele also disputed whether the two sides had scheduled a meeting for yesterday.

"There was no meeting confirmed," Kahele said. "It was still undecided and the company knew we had not confirmed it."

Ameron Hawaii had said the two sides would meet at 4 p.m. at the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Union Local 996 headquarters in Kalihi, and that was widely reported in the news media earlier in the week.

No new contract talks have been scheduled between the Teamsters and Ameron Hawaii or between the Teamsters and Hawai'i's other major concrete company, Hawaiian Cement.

Most economists have said the concrete strike, although difficult for those directly involved, will not have a large impact on the state's economy if it ends soon.

Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawai'i Economic Research Organization and a member of the state council that forecasts tax revenues, said on Wednesday if the strike lasts through June, it could mean a drop in state revenue growth of at least 1 percent, which translates to about $30 million.

"It's all about the catch-up time," Bonham said. "How much can you catch up and continue to do the things you have planned and there's a limit to that."

Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085 or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.