Hawaiian Cement crews may be back by Monday

• Hopes of workers hinge on settlement

By Dan Nakaso and Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawai'i Teamsters president Mel Kahele says he will recommend acceptance of Hawaiian Cement's offer when the union votes tomorrow. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Masons at the Ocean Pointe project learned on Feb. 5 that they would be laid off because the concrete strike would tie up work. The strike began at Ameron on Feb. 6 and Hawaiian Cement on Feb. 7. Advertiser library photo • Feb. 5, 2004

The tentative agreement reached yesterday by the leaders of the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers, Local 996, and Hawaiian Cement was welcome news to construction companies that have been laying off hundreds of workers since the Teamsters struck Hawai'i's largest concrete company, Ameron Hawaii, on Feb. 6. The Teamsters went on strike against Hawaiian Cement the following day.

Teamsters officials will recommend that their members accept the tentative agreement when they vote tomorrow from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the union's Kalihi headquarters. Teamsters officials hope to announce the results of the vote immediately.

The decision to take the proposal directly to the 68 striking Hawaiian Cement workers came after company vice president Michael Coad presented Teamsters leaders yesterday with what he called the "last, best and final offer."

"It's a very good offer," Coad said yesterday morning after the latest negotiation session. "We have asked the union to take the offer to the rank and file to be voted on as soon as possible. We did it in part because the negotiation process just seems to be going on and on and on. This has been an agonizing experience for all of us. ... We need to get the construction industry back to work and put this behind us."

The five-year agreement runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2008. It would require employees to pay 20 percent of their medical costs, which had been the key sticking point in the negotiations.

Hawaiian Cement pays all of its union employees' medical benefits but asked that employees pay the 20 percent.

The company also received changes in both its temporary transfer language and shift scheduling, which allows for more flexibility in making assignments.

Many other key items appealed to members of the negotiating committee, such as:

• Five years of paid medical benefits to any retiring Teamster.
• The company's agreement to preserve the sick leave program and eliminate its proposal to reduce employee sick days from 18 to nine.
• An overall pay and benefits package that went from a $1.20-per-hour increase for the originally proposed three-year agreement to a $3.80-per-hour increase over the life of the five-year contract.

The tentative agreement means that employees would receive a $1-per-hour raise in the first year, of which 30 cents would be earmarked for the medical coverage. Pay and benefits would increase 70 cents per hour each subsequent year.

"They gave us a proposal that's real good for the guys that's going to retire," said Patrick Quijano, a member of the Teamsters negotiating committee. "They're going to extend it until they reach Medicare. ... We fought real hard for it and now we're going to take it to the rank and file."

Coad, of Hawaiian Cement, said after the Teamsters announcement of a ratification vote: " ... A good settlement usually is one in which both sides feel that they gave a little bit more than they should have. That's kind of the sentiment from parts of both the management group and the union group. ...

"I am certainly very happy. We still need a positive ratification vote and the union has said that their negotiating committee is going to recommend ratification.."

If striking Teamsters approve the new contract, Hawaiian Cement's production would begin to meet a huge pent-up demand for concrete.

The company had asked union officials to waive overtime provisions in order to meet production demands, Teamsters President Mel Kahele said. He said the increased production schedule and expected overtime pay will make up for any wages lost over the six-week strike.

Kahele also believes that the tentative agreement with Hawaiian Cement puts more pressure on Hawaiian Cement's main competitor, Ameron Hawaii, the Islands' largest concrete producer.

Negotiations between the Teamsters and Ameron resume today at 2 p.m.

"With Hawaiian's final offer, we're hoping they come up with a similar package," Kahele said.

George West, Ameron's vice president of operations for O'ahu, agreed last night that Ameron officials feel great pressure to settle their portion of the strike.

But the tentative settlement of the medical payment issue also supports Ameron's proposal to raise employees' share of medical costs from 20 percent to 30 percent, West said.

"I think their achieving their co-pay underscores the importance of that issue and lends credence to our request," West said. "We've always said that Ameron has a great sense of urgency to get these issues resolved. I hope the Hawaiian Cement agreement increases the unions' sensitivity to reach resolution with us."

Companies affected by the strike reacted with relief that it may be nearing an end.

"It's about time," said Kenneth Choate, executive vice president of Haseko Construction Inc., which is building houses at Ocean Pointe in 'Ewa Beach. "It's about the most frustrating thing I've ever gone through in my entire life. They've been arguing about nickels for a month and a half, and the whole industry is in chaos. It just seems so ludicrous. I've got innocent people laid off, and why? It's not their fault."

Choate figures it could take the rest of year to make up for the work lost during the strike, although he isn't quite sure that's possible. "How do you make up seven weeks in a year?" he said. "It's lost.

"We're going to ... work the guys long hours and pay OT and push. And for what reason?"

The concrete strike forced Kevin Pe–a to lay off 50 workers from the Foundations Hawaii Inc. company he owns. Pe–a hopes he can rehire half of them when the strike ends and work in the rest gradually.

"It's going to be hard to make up what's lost," Pe–a said. "There's a certain degree what you can make up but, on a whole, for the work projected for the year, it's going to be next to near to impossible."

Fred Perlin, director of concrete operations for Z Contractor, laid off 50 workers. He estimates the strike cost the company $15,000 to replace and rework framing and other jobs that suffered from weather and termites while waiting for concrete to be poured.

"Our cash flow is getting down there," Perlin said. "We need to pour concrete in order to make money. We can do all the prep work in the world but we don't get paid till there's concrete on the ground."

When told about yesterday's tentative agreement, Perlin said: "Thank you, God."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085. Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.

Hopes of workers hinge on settlement

Lawrence Sanchez and Jessica Luning had scaled back their wedding plans — and her engagement ring — when Sanchez lost his construction job because of the concrete strike. Now Luning is planning a fancier reception. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

James Orlando, a 32-year-old mason unemployed since Feb. 13, can pay back the $1,100 he borrowed from a friend to make his rent.

And Tito Yagin, who cried when he told his five kids he had lost his mason job, will soon be taking the whole family back to Chuck E. Cheese's on Fridays, as he did before Feb. 6, when concrete workers walked off the job.

Word that a settlement may come as soon as Monday between striking Teamsters and Hawaiian Cement brought relief to untold numbers of laid-off construction workers who had become unwitting victims of the 42-day-old concrete strike.

The strike forced Luning and Sanchez to cancel their plans for an April 3 wedding in Las Vegas and go with a scaled-back O'ahu ceremony instead.

With a settlement imminent, Luning says she's going to upgrade her plans.

She'll hold the reception at the Coral Creek Golf Course at a cost of $28 per guest — a step up from the Chinese restaurant that was going to charge $12 a plate.

"Now we can really solidify how many guests we can have," Luning said. "I have the invitations sitting right here. All I need to do is print the location for the reception, and then we're on our way."

Sanchez had ordered a .75-carat ring that cost $3,700 less than the 1.5-carat ring he originally wanted to buy before he was laid off.

"We'll trade up eventually," Luning said of the ring.

The settlement, if ratified, will come at a good time for Orlando, a mason with Z Contractors.

He had to borrow $1,100 from a friend to pay his rent, and was forced to get a roommate to bring down his expenses.

Orlando said he had planned to use his unemployment checks to pay his rent, but the checks didn't come in.

"It's stressful not being able to pay my bills," said Orlando, who made between $500 and $600 a week as a mason.

Even before being laid off, he was late in paying his $500 cell phone bill and $129 electric bill, though he managed to pay those off.

If the strike had continued, he said, he would have looked for a restaurant job where he could earn tips.

"It would have been nicer if they settled sooner," Orlando said.

Yagin, like others, is excited that the strike soon may be over.

"It will be great to be back at work and catch up paying our bills," he said.

Yagin will be especially happy to take his children out again and play golf on the weekends, two things he and his family did without for the duration of the strike.