Part IV: Walter H. Kupau, 1969-1984
At the third biennial convention Francis J. Kennedy, a well-known Gill supporter, chose not to run for re-election, and the scene was set for a major contest between candidates representing the different political factions.
Convention speaker Mayor Shunichi Kimura from the Big Island pleaded with the delegates to put their differences aside and stand together in unity. But when nominations were called for, six candidates emerged: Akito "Blackie" Fujikawa of IBEW 1186, Walter Kupau of the Carpenters, John Montrone of the Painters, John Cabral of the American Federation of Government Employees, Joe Lii of the Inland Boatmen's Union and Emil Lee of the Marine Cooks and Stewards.
It soon became clear that Fujikawa and Kupau were the two leading contenders. Fujikawa, business manager of 1186, had since Jan. 31 been serving as acting executive secretary-treasurer to fill the vacancy left by Knight's resignation, but even when he withdrew his nomination for the presidency his influence as a leader of the Gill supporters was considerable.
Jack Reynolds, the Building Trades delegate, was looked to as a peacemaker and was offered the job of executive secretary-treasurer, but, fearing the split was too great, he declined. As the politicking heated up, Montrone, Cabral and Lii also withdrew their names from nomination, and the stage was set for a straightforward election between Walter Kupau and Emil Lee. In the end, Kupau, administrative assistant of the Carpenters Local 745, was elected with 12,068 votes to Lee's 10,254. Surprisingly, not all the voting was along Gill-Burns lines. Many Gill supporters, like Ivan Naiwi, threw their support to Kupau because he impressed them as a strong trade unionist who really did care more for the union movement than for any political alliances. With his election a new era in the history of the State AFL-CIO was begun.
Elected vice presidents for the Oahu Division were: Yukio Arashiro, Ironworkers Local 803; John Cabral, AFGE Local 882; Jack Copess, Boilermakers Local 204; James Crane, HFT Local 1127; Dorian Gustaveson, Roofers Local 221; John Haleamau, Marine Firemen; Arthur Kam, Transport Workers Local 505; I. B. Peterson, Musicians Local 677; Elmo Samson, Laborers Local 368; and Thomas Sing, Lithographers Local 201.
Neighbor Island vice presidents elected were: Ben Matsubara, IBEW Local 1260 Hawaii Division; John Man, IBEW 1260 Maui Division; and Thomas Tokioka, IBEW Local 1260 Kauai Division.
On a more somber note, the convention voted to honor the late Alex S. Reile, AFL-CIO Hawaii Pacific area representative since 1953, who planned to retire in December. He had been in ill health and passed away on Oct. 8 from an apparent heart attack.
Reile had represented the AFL-CIO in Hawaii longer than most people could remember. Before serving as the Pacific area representative for the national, he had spent many years as secretary-treasurer of the Central Labor Council. He served 10 years on the Hawaii Employment Relations Board and gave his time freely to countless other boards and civic commissions. Kupau led the tribute at the convention and expressed the federation's sympathies to his widow and other survivors.
With the convention over, Kupau, 33, was one of the youngest presidents to ever head up such a state body, and now he turned to the primary goals of his administration: organizing the unorganized workers in the state and increasing the number of affiliates.
His first order of business was to fill the position of executive secretary-treasurer. Wasting no time, on Oct. 2, he announced the appointment of William Abbott, a University of Hawaii labor specialist who had once been the education director of the United Rubber Workers. As Abbott explained at a press conference announcing his appointment, he planned to be active in organizing, starting with the Hawaii Federation of College Teachers at the University of Hawaii.
Nor were traditional union goals the only ones taken up under the Kupau administration. A major resolution was passed at the convention calling for reform of the state's abortion laws to permit rich and poor women alike access to legal and safe abortions. Other resolutions called for a temporary rent freeze to ease the worsening housing crisis, and a code of ethics in landlord-tenant laws.
Kupau also looked to the national AFL-CIO for its help. In a letter to George Meany dated March 3, 1970, Kupau wrote, "The death of Reile last October was a great loss to us. Over five months have elapsed and we have heard nothing about a replacement."
On March 23, 1970, William Hightower, a veteran trade unionist and staff representative and organizer for the national AFL-CIO, was appointed AFL-CIO Hawaii-Pacific representative replacing A. S. Reile. As Meany remarked to Kupau, "I am certain that the anticipated cooperation between AFL-CIO Representative Hightower and you and your fellow officers will result in the development of organizational programs that will benefit all AFL-CIO unions, the State of Hawaii, and the nation."
The Hawaii Public Employment Relations Act
Pursuant to the mandate of the Constitutional Convention, the 1970 legislature took up the task of writing Hawaii's collective bargaining law for public workers. The State Federation, the ILWU, UPW and the independent Hawaii Government Employees Association, led by David Trask were the main contributors to the heated discussions accompanying the birth of this landmark legislation.
The two biggest issues at stake involved the question of how much should be open to negotiations and whether or not public workers should have the right to strike. Trask preferred to leave salaries and job classifications in the hands of the legislature where he believed he had greater control than at the bargaining table. The federation wanted the law to work more like the Wagner Act with as much negotiable as possible.
The negotiability compromises that were reached in the infamous section 9 of the act would come back to haunt union leadership years later, but, in any event, the law which became Chapter 89 of the state's statutes granted most public workers the right to strike and would change public employee labor relations in Hawaii forever by securing bargaining rights for Hawaii's public workers, unknown in most of the other states.
HGEA and UPW Join the Federation
An immediate outcome of the new bargaining law was a rash of union representation elections as rival unions vied for representation of the 13 statutory bargaining units. For years the HGEA and the United Public Workers (UPW) had competed to enroll civil service workers in their respective unions. Without the legal status to bargain, the two unions offered a variety of membership assistance programs and lobbying efforts that had secured them a certain degree of acceptance and unofficial political power from supervisors and government leaders.
Now a set of elections would settle jurisdiction definitively, if not permanently. By the end of the year, HGEA had established certification for seven of the 13 units, mostly white collar professional and technical workers, while UPW had taken the blue collar non-supervisory and correctional workers.
With this new-found stability, both unions were at last ready to put an end to raiding and quarreling with each other and get down to the serious business of negotiating and administering a collective bargaining agreement.
In this spirit of cooperation, a truce was called and HGEA and UPW sought affiliation, first with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), an AFL-CIO national affiliate, and by 1971-at Kupau's urging- with the Hawaii State Federation of Labor.
The addition of these two unions nearly doubled the size of the federation and brought in a new slate of vice presidents that was bound to strengthen the political voice of the federation.
Under Kupau's leadership the federation also lent its support to the AFL-CIO local of the American Federation of Teachers in its bid with HSTA, the NEA local, for representation of the state school teachers' bargaining unit. His sister, Jessica Kirk, the leader of the Hawaii Federation of Teachers, came agonizingly close to winning that election. But after the results of a second, run-off election were tallied, the HSTA narrowly took the unit.
GE Picketed
In the past, the federation had often helped coordinate sympathy pickets to join an affiliate on strike. In the winter of 1969, for the first time, the federation led a unique picket expressing national solidarity even though no local affiliate was actually on strike.
The General Electric Company had instituted a regressive policy of making "take-it-or-leave-it" offers to its workers throughout the country. Known as "Boulwarism" after former company vice president Lemuel Boulware, in 1969 and 1970 this tactic was being opposed by 150,000 workers in 13 national unions.
In Hawaii the federation sponsored a local boycott that began in December. On the Dec. 15, 30 informational pickets from the State Federation led by William Abbott set up a line in front of Ramsay G.E. Appliance to join their union brothers and sisters on the mainland in protesting Boulwarism and bad faith bargaining.
Burns and Ariyoshi Backed by COPE
When at last the COPE convention met to take up the difficult question of its gubernatorial endorsement, the vote favored the Burns-Ariyoshi ticket in the primary over Gill. While Kupau had pledged at his election that "no politician will split our union," the Burns endorsement fallout created many problems.
For instance, Fumi Ige, the COPE coordinator, was a Gill campaign worker and her husband was Gill's campaign manager. With the COPE endorsement going to Burns she left her position to work full-time for Gill. Not only staff dropped out over the endorsement. The Machinists, Operating Engineers, Electrical Workers, Painters, Plumbers, and American Federation of Government Employees all dropped out of the federation because of their desire to support Gill over Burns.
Easter Call for Peace
For most of the period of the Vietnam War the AFL-CIO had supported presidential policy and the war effort. In the '60s the State Federation had even organized a support march to rally around President Johnson when he visited here.But by 1971 things had changed. News of the "My Lai" atrocities and the realization that the United States no longer enjoyed a moral superiority over its enemy prompted many Americans to change their minds. On April 7, 1971, Kupau of the federation, David Thompson of the ILWU, Epstein of the UPW and Trask of the HGEA held a press conference with then-U.S. Rep. Sparky Matsunaga at which the four labor leaders jointly called for an end to the carnage and peace negotiations to begin as soon as possible. Matsunaga promised to take a copy of the statement back to President Nixon and read it into the Congressional Record.
The 1971 Convention
In September 1971 the federation held its fourth biennial convention at the Ala Moana Hotel. More than 150 delegates representing 50,479 members attended and voted to re-elect Kupau by acclamation and reduce the number of vice presidents from 13 to eight. Keladine White, the COPE coordinator hired to replace Ige, reported that labor had failed to bring out the vote in the last elections. While Governor Burns had been reelected, in another crucial race Joseph Kuroda defeated union-backed Mitsuo Uechi, who was a member and officer of the Hawaii Federation of Teachers.
HGEA's Trask figured prominently at this convention and convinced the delegates to pass a resolution supporting the proposed H-3 freeway from Kaneohe to Pearl Harbor. And, of the eight vice-presidents three were from the new public sector affiliates. HGEA's Herbert Perreira and Clarence "Gadget" Takashima, represented Hawaii and Kauai, and UPW's Walter Correa represented Maui.
Federation Staff Changes
In October Kupau hired Judith Sobin, a former staff member and program analyst for the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO to work as a State Federation research associate. Her research work did much to improve the lobbying of the president and executive secretary-treasurer by establishing a greater credibility with legislators.
One of the major problems plaguing the federation was the difficulty finding and retaining a good executive secretary-treasurer. During the Kupau years no fewer than five men held the job which seemed to be by its nature the kind of job that could not attract a candidate dynamic enough to do the job well, yet at the same time content enough not to seek greater authority.
William Abbott left after only a year to head up the newly certified Federation of College Teachers that negotiated the first University of Hawaii faculty contract. He was followed in September 1970 by B.D. "Bud" Kaye, formerly a Star-Bulletin copy editor, who held the position until December 1973, when he had to leave for personal reasons. A. Van Horn Diamond took over from 1974 and held the position for more than five years, longer than anyone. On May 31, 1978, he took a leave to run for lieutenant governor of the state and finally resigned in September 1979 after failing another bid to unseat Kupau as the federation's president. From April through December 1980, Star-Bulletin reporter Phil Mayer held the post briefly. Then in September 1981 after his loss of UPW leadership to Gary Rodrigues, Epstein was appointed executive secretary-treasurer, but, under protest from UPW, was released in June 1982.
The 1973 Convention on Dec. 1 at the Ilikai was one of the less eventful meetings of the federation. Kupau was re-elected to an unprecedented third term and new constitutional amendments that reallocated delegate votes were enacted.
Major federation effort through 1974 was poured into support for a Nixon impeachment drive as a result of his infamous wage-freezes and pay-board decisions. The Watergate scandal was just the last straw as far as the AFL-CIO was concerned.
Ethel Miyachi, formerly a secretary with HGEA, started work at the State AFL-CIO
office May 8, 1974. After a long succession of secretaries and receptionists, Miyachi brought an era of stability to the office management of the federation and set a high standard of competence. In the long periods after Phil Mayer left as executive secretary-treasurer, she took over the writing and editing of the Hawaii AFL-CIO Nupepa.
Also in 1974, Megumi "Lefty" Muramoto, another HGEA staffer, came on board as the COPE director as of the convention in September, when the delegates voted to endorse the team of George Ariyoshi and Nelson Doi for the gubernatorial race.
Despite the recent increases in over-all federation membership, in 1974 it was financially strapped, so the executive board established a special 13-month per capita year to put the federation back on its feet and pay off $10,000 to $12,000 worth of debts.
Rice & Roses
Another major accomplishment in 1974 was the long awaited debut of Rice & Roses, a weekly half-hour labor program on Hawaii's public television channel. Working together with the ILWU, the State federation lobbied extensively for the legislative grant that funded the series, which was then viciously attacked by the business community. The first three episodes of the second season, which began April 30, 1975, featured Max Roffman's insightful "Hawaiian Labor History." It was hosted by the new State Federation executive secretary A. Van Horn Diamond and narrated by island broadcaster and AFTRA member Bob Miller.
Diamond had been with the HGEA since 1970 as the education and training officer. He was also well known as an island entertainer and was a member of both the Musicians Union Local 677 and the American Guild of Variety Artists.
Federation Unity
In 1975 Kupau again confronted the former leadership of Carpenters Union Local 745, and Yanagi, his former boss and rival for the post, pulled the local out of the federation in protest. Not until 1980, when Kupau finally won control of the local, did it reaffiliate.
The convention that year, on Sept. 12-14 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, was one marked by a high degree of unity and unanimity. All resolutions and elections were passed unanimously. Even more startling was the speech presented by Robert McElrath of the ILWU. After decades of intense rivalry, the past few years had begun to see more and more opportunities for cooperation between the AFL-CIO unions and Hawaii's independent sugar and pineapple workers' representative. Together they had been able to fund Rice & Roses and see many other pro-labor laws enacted.
Right-to-Work Drive
Just after convention in 1975, Hawaii's labor movement experienced an unusual and ominous attack from the national Right-to-Work Committee headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. This well-known union-busting organization was attempting to incite legislative drives in each state to pass local laws making union-security clauses in collective bargaining agreements illegal.
In October Hawaii residents were the target of a mail campaign designed to stir up anti-union animus in the public, that called Hawaii's labor leadership a "gang of strong-arm toughs." Fortunately, most people in the state knew better. Hawaii workers are among the nation's most highly unionized, so, with the help of the State Federation's expose, the Right-to-Work Drive of 1975 came to nothing.
Federation Accomplishments
On April 28-29, 1976, the State Federation and the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) sponsored a "Union OSHA Conference." Instructors from the Department of Labor helped to provide intensive instruction to union leaders on the state's safety and health program, and workers' legal rights and benefits.
Over the next few years the stability in the federation started to pay off in many ways. Diamond, writing in the February 1978 issue of the AFL-CIO News, cited the following accomplishments:
" Your State Federation has opened up vital lines of communication and cooperation with our counterpart organizations in most of the Western states...
" Your State Federation... has been able to build and reestablish a strong and popular social profile and political stature. We have fought off anti-union, anti-labor sentiments.
" Our COPE political program is much improved. We have developed effectiveness through our endorsements, our campaign efforts, and our legislative lobbying program.
" Internally, the State Federation staff is now more stable and has an improved work situation. We are a unionized operation and we have enjoyed fantastic productivity and performances from our staff people.
" We have good relationships with our Congressional delegates as well as representatives of local, state and federal governments.
" We have opened communications with the independent unions in Hawaii, especially the ILWU and even Unity House affiliates.
" Your State AFL-CIO together with many labor organizations has founded a Center for Labor Education and Research at the UH.
" Internationally, we have met and have started building bridges with labor movement around the Pacific Basin.
" We are proudest of our growth and consolidation. In 1974 we had 30 affiliates. In 1978 we have no less than 45 affiliates.
While the Honolulu dailies continued to focus on the inter-union disputes and to highly publicize any union leaving the federation, the regular addition of affiliates experienced over the years was ordinarily ignored, leaving the impression that the labor movement was disorganized and riddled with petty jealousies. But, as Kupau and Diamond continually tried to point out to the public, the truth of this period was a growing spirit of cooperation and union solidarity in lobbying agendas, if not specific endorsements.
The eighth biennial convention was held on September 7-9, 1979, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Coral Ballroom. There were 100 delegates representing 19 affiliated unions and five councils.
Incumbent president Kupau was unanimously reelected. Diamond, former executive secretary-treasurer was nominated but withdrew his candidacy. He was, however, elected as a federation vice president from the Musicians Union Local 677.
Strike Support
During the Kupau years, of course, there were several famous strikes. The Ironworkers Local 803 strike of 1975, the United Public Workers unit 1 strike of refuse collectors in 1979, and the ill-fated Professional Air Traffic Controllers' strike of 1980 are three of the best publicized.
But the State Federation, under Kupau's leadership, made it a point of honor to support striking workers whether they were affiliates or not and no matter how small the bargaining unit. Paging through past issues of the Hawaii AFL-CIO News reveals pictures and support drives for union brothers and sisters not so well remembered, but just as deserving of labor's solidarity as any unionist who puts everything on the line to make the ultimate sacrifice for a better future.
A short list of just some of the strikes the federation supported reveal the variety and scope of Hawaii's wide-ranging labor movement: 1974, the SEIU Local 556 strike at the Pearl Harbor Credit Union; the same year the Machinists, Lodge 1245's strike at Hawaiian Air Tour Services; The Pressmen's 1975 strike against Mail-Well Envelope Co.; the Meat Cutters Strike at Honolulu Freezer in November 1975; Graphic Arts International Union's 1978 Strike against Hawaiian Printing; OPEIU, Local 460's office worker strike against Planned Parenthood in 1978.
Clearly the most distinguishing characteristic of the Kupau era was the total support he demanded of fellow unionists for those on strike.
OSHA Grant
Also in 1979 the State Federation launched another innovative program when it received a U.S. Department of Labor grant to develop an educational program responsive to the safety and health needs of Hawaii's workers and train labor representatives in OSHA regulations so they would not need to rely exclusively on high-paid consultants. Working through Hasegawa, the new director of the University of Hawaii's Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR), this project was a great success and the workshops that were held that summer were well attended and highly appreciated.
Federation Name Change
In May of 1980 at a special COPE Convention the delegates decided to change the name of the organization to the Hawaii State AFL-CIO and drop the words "federation of labor" in order to be consistent with the other state bodies. A request to be rechartered under the new name was submitted to the national AFL-CIO, and it became official on July 17 when the revised charter was issued.
Then, in 1983 the office was moved out of the old Halekauwila Street building into the Hawaii State AFL-CIO's current location at 320 Ward Avenue.
Kupau Attacked
Sadly, the many achievements of the Kupau administration were unduly blighted by
a protracted legal battle he was forced to wage with the FBI over his staffs attempts to organize a non-union contractor on Maui. Unable to sustain a complaint against Kupau under the procedures of the National Labor Relations Act, federal investigators were able to indict Kupau on a perjury charge based on his insistence that the Carpenters' picket of that contractor was essentially informational rather than recognitional in character.
Convicted by an all-haole jury despite his protests that his use of pidgin English was a crucial part of his defense, Kupau was thereafter urged by the national AFL-CIO to resign. Denied appeal, he was sentenced to a short term in federal prison.
The 10th biennial convention of the State AFL-CIO was held on Saturday, Sept. 10, 1983 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Tapa Towers. There were 55 delegates representing 25 affiliated unions, 16 guests and 3 councils.
Speakers for the convention were Jane Adams, Area Six COPE director; the Honorable Simeon Acoba, First Circuit Court; Alan Kistler, director of AFL-CIO Department of Organization and Field Services; and the Honorable Richard Wong, State Senate President.
At the time of the convention, Kupau had been indicted by the federal grand jury and charged with criminal wrongdoing in connection with his union organizing activities as business manger of the Carpenters' union.
Alan Kistler, director of the AFL-CIO Department of Organization and Field Services arrived in Hawaii to hand deliver a letter from President Lane Kirkland to Kupau. This letter was distributed to delegates at the convention. The letter stated in part
"....it is my duty as AFL-CIO President to advise you that on and after the date of hand delivery of this letter, you may not serve as President of the Hawaii State AFL-CIO unless and until the criminal charges against you are dismissed or you are otherwise exonerated."
The letter also stated that the AFL-CIO policy regarding individuals who are under indictment does not bar Kupau from running for office as long as the delegates are fully advised before the election that unless and until the criminal charges are dismissed, or he is otherwise exonerated, he may not serve as a federation officer.
Resenting this intrusion, the delegates took an entirely different course of action. Vice president Benjamin Toyama nominated Kupau and there being no other nominations, read a resolution in support of him which was unanimously adopted.
Kupau was elected by the delegation and was given a round of applause. He expressed his appreciation for the confidence received from the delegates and remarked that he will
step down only at the request of the delegates in attendance.
Also of importance was the constitutional amendment of Article III - Membership-Representation-Voting. This amendment would allow greater participation by the smaller locals at the convention by increasing the number of delegates. Local unions with 500 or less members would be allowed two delegates.
On May 31, 1983, AFL-CIO President Kirkland decided to close the national's area office in Honolulu. William Hightower had retired the previous November and, faced with a national budget crunch, Kirkland decided not to replace him.
Facing sentencing in 1984 after his perjury conviction, Kupau in January appointed Samson Mamizuka of the Carpenters' union as Acting-President in his absence until September 1985 when the llth Biennial Convention was due to meet and elect a new president.
PART V: Gary W. Rodrigues, 1985 - Present
The eleventh biennial convention held on October 11, 1985 ushered a new era for the Hawaii State AFL-CIO. Its president elect was the first head of a union which represented employees in the private, as well as the public sector. Gary W. Rodrigues seemed especially suited for new challenges and opportunities presented to the labor movement in the later half of the 1980's and the beginning of the 1990's.
A native of Kapaa, Kauai, Rodrigues began his union career as a business agent for the UPW in 1965. He served for 16 years as Division Director on the island when the UPW consolidated its base in both government and private institutions. He worked as a legislative aid to a powerful Kauai senator at the time the public sector collective bargaining law was passed in 1970. He negotiated the first statewide agreements for blue collar and institutional workers in 1972. In 1981 he was elected State Director of the UPW, one of two AFSCME affiliates in the State.
During his tenure as President, the AFL-CIO forged a new unity between private and public sector workers. The State AFL-CIO spearheaded an impressive legislative program. It worked closely with the new state administration to promote a gradual expansion in all sectors of the economy. Labor's role in community services took a giant step forward. Its Committee on Political Education reaped major election victories. Inter-union relations in Hawaii improved.
New Affiliations and Unprecedented Growth
In part due to structural changes in the American economy and due to regressive policies of the Reagan administration, organized labor experienced a significant decline in its nationwide membership in the 1980's. Here in Hawaii and nationally, labor unions looked to the AFL-CIO to stem the tide of reaction.
In 1985 and 1986 the Screen Actor's Guild, two councils of the Flight Attendants Association, AFSCME's East-West Center Local 928, the Masters Mates and Pilots Union, the International Photographers' Guild, and Communication Workers of America Local 9415 affiliated with the State AFL-CIO. In 1987 Local 5 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union affiliated for two years.
In 1988 Hawaii's largest independent union in the private sector also joined the State AFL-CIO. Following its affiliation with the national AFL-CIO in August 1988, the ILWU voted to associate with the State AFL-CIO. With more than 28,000 members, the ILWU Local 142 was one of the fastest growing labor organizations in Hawaii, representing workers in the longshore, sugar, pineapple, general trades and tourism industries. Following its affiliation with the AFL-CIO, the ILWU surpassed Local 5 as Hawaii's largest union in tourism. It also won the first award for organizing priority under the AFL-CIO's new Article XXI procedures at a hotel in Maui.
In 1989 the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen Local 1, Operative Plasters & Cement Masons Local 630, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 480 joined the State AFL-CIO. By September of that year, when its biennial convention convened, a record 172 delegates representing 49 affiliates were in attendance. Thirty-three vice presidents were elected (another record), and Rodrigues was re-elected by acclamation.
From 1985 to 1990 the membership of the State AFL-CIO increased from approximately 45,000 to 74,000. This was the highest point of union membership in its history.
An Impressive Legislative Program
- The Workers' Compensation "Crisis" and Reform
In the early 1980's insurance and business groups were intent on dismantling Hawaii's liberal workers' compensation laws. In 1981 and 1983 the insurance carriers increased workers' compensation rates by 54%, and business leaders clamored about a bad business climate in Hawaii. They advocated major reforms in Hawaii's presumption which favored the injured worker, claiming that fraud and abuse were common occurrences. The debate over workers' compensation dominated the legislative agenda from 1984 to 1986.
The Hawaii State AFL-CIO challenged the basic premise of insurance and business interests (i.e. that major reforms in the presumption and statutory benefits were needed to cut insurance rates). While supporting measures to establish new guidelines for medical benefits, the State AFL-CIO maintained that the "crisis" in workers' compensation was falsely created by the insurance industry to exact excessive profits from the program. It supported the establishment of a state fund and called for an investigation of rating making through a "business advocate." The essential aspects of labor's reform program were adopted in 1985 by the legislature.
With the presumption intact and a state fund on the books, an investigation into insurance rates before the Insurance Commissioner disclosed that during the first half of the 1980's insurance carriers reaped 25% rates of return on their investments. The UPW intervened to challenge another proposed increase of 17.9% and hired an actuary to examine the record. The disclosure of excess profits was the result. In October 1986 Commissioner Mario Ramil rolled back rates
by 12.4%. In July 1987 a new Insurance Commissioner under the Waihee administration reduced rates by another 18.9%.
During the 1986 and 1987 legislative sessions the tide had turned against the insurance interests. The State AFL-CIO favored funding for a non-profit state fund to compete with insurance carrier's in the $250 million a year workers' compensation program. Business and insurance lobbyists suddenly favored the existing "system." For 40,000 workers who suffer injuries in Hawaii each year, the struggle to preserve the workers' compensation program had been won, at least temporarily.
In ensuing years, a renewed effort to improve statutory benefits was made. Claimants who were permanently totally disabled and receiving less than the state's average weekly wages would receive supplemental adjustments in their weekly compensation checks effective 1992. This will be the first such adjustment since 1980. Another measure increased the payment of death benefits to the parents of deceased workers with no other dependents.
- Increasing the Minimum Wage
Since 1981, Hawaii's minimum wage law had not been amended. Meanwhile, from 1981 to 1987 the state's average weekly wages increased by 30%. At $3.35 an hour a full-time worker would earn $6,968 per year, well below the $12,650 annual poverty income criteria for a family of four. To close the gap between unrepresented and unionized workers, the state AFL-CIO launched a campaign to increase the minimum wage starting in 1987. The legislature agreed to increase the minimum wage by 15% effective January 1, 1988 (i.e., to $3.85 per hour).
House and Senate conferees deadlocked on the issue in 1988 and 1989. The State AFL-CIO launched a media campaign to generate broader community support for additional increases to the minimum wage. Finally during the 1991 legislative session the minimum wage was increased to $4.75 per hour beginning April 1, 1992, and $5.25 per hour beginning January 1, 1993.
- Corporate Takeovers and Plant Closures
During the mid-1980's the pace of economic development in Hawaii increased substantially. Spurred by investments from East and West new developments, especially in the resort areas, provided new employment opportunities. However, with the increased rate of economic change, Hawaii also began to experience corporate takeovers and other forms of complex business transactions which increased the risk of job displacements and shutdowns. For example, in January 1987 approximately 125 workers at the Airport Holiday Inn were laid off following a sale and takeover by an adjacent hotel owner, without any prior notice.
During the 1987 legislature, the State AFL-CIO supported a Dislocated Worker bill introduced by House Labor Committee Chairperson Dwight Takamine which required a 45 day written notice, supplemental unemployment insurance benefits for 4 weeks, and civil penalties for offending employers. When signed into law, the measure placed Hawaii among the few states with plant closing laws (Maine and Massachusetts were forerunners). It was not until 1988 that Congress passed WARN (the federal plant closure law).
- Protection for the Wrongfully Discharged
During the 1987 session, the President of the State AFL-CIO also submitted testimony in support of a whistleblower protection act which prohibited retaliatory discharges and discrimination against workers who reported suspected violations of public law. The enactment provided workers in the public and private sectors injunctive relief, civil penalties, and other remedies against employers who sought to silence them for speaking out against unlawful practices on the job. Hawaii's Whistleblower Protection Act (HRS §378) was supplemental to a new judicial relief favoring employees who were wrongfully terminated "against public policy."
- Martin Luther King Day and Civil Rights Reform
In memory of the slain civil rights leader, the Hawaii legislature in 1989 designated the third monday of January, Martin Luther King Day. The State AFL-CIO supported the measure. In the same year, the legislature established a Civil Rights Commission composed of five members and consolidated authority over all fair employment practice matters to it (HRS §368). The enactment was strongly opposed by the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.
- The Unemployment Trust Fund and UI Reforms
Soon after being elected Governor, John Waihee in 1987 proposed a reduction in the unemployment insurance trust fund from its near $300 million level by providing tax relief to island employers. His program was designed in part to help stimulate the local economy by providing an average of $40 million of relief each year to Hawaii businesses and to improve the "business climate." Business interests supported the Waihee plan for permanent reductions in the UI tax base, but opposed either a training fund or benefit increases for workers. The AFL-CIO favored a reform program for unemployment insurance which upgraded the standards of "fund adequacy," created a training fund, and provided improvements in worker benefits.
In 1987 the legislature granted interim relief of $40 million and proceeded with caution on other aspects of the proposed reform. This prompted the State AFL-CIO to commission a comparative legal review of UI statutes in all states, and an economic study to determinate whether the UI fund was in fact "excessive." In March 1990 Professors Richard Pollock and Jack Suyderhoud issued their report advising caution as to tax cuts and forewarning that even a moderate recession could rapidly deplete the fund balance in light of current wage patterns.
In 1991 the legislature redefined fund adequacy (to require fund levels to pay for benefits over the period of a moderately severe recession) and instituted new tax rates which evenly spread reductions among employers with similar unemployment insurance experiences. The measure established an employment and training fund with an assessment of .05% to help workers overcome employment barriers and to improve employment prospects. It also provided for significant benefit adjustments to restore the purchasing power of unemployed persons that eroded through the taxation of benefits. The maximum weekly benefit rates were increased from 66%% to 70% and the formula for calculating weekly benefit amounts was liberalized. These reforms have been especially beneficial to construction workers and employers.
- Family Leave
1991 was also the year Hawaii became one of the first states in the nation to adopt a family leave bill, which affords up to four weeks of unpaid leave for a birth or adoption of a child or a serious family illness. The law becomes effective in 1994 for public employees and applies to private sector employees in work forces with 100 or more persons.
Balanced Economic Growth
Economic conditions in Hawaii appeared to have taken a turn for the better by the time John Waihee was elected Governor in 1986. The rate of unemployment was at an all time low and the state coffers were in good shape. The construction unions entered five year contracts and resort construction projects were popping up on all islands.
The State AFL-CIO fully supported the construction of H-3 as a means of assuring jobs for those in the construction industry and to stabilize Hawaii's rate of economic development. After years of court battles over the adequacy of environmental impact statements, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals finally gave the greenlight to the freeway project.
The Waihee administration and state labor leaders worked cooperatively to plan and work toward balanced economic growth on a statewide basis. The governor appointed many labor leaders to various boards, commissions, and work groups. Through a coordinated statewide program, the State AFL-CIO helped stave off building moratoriums in various counties, as well as proposals for planning initiatives and referenda at the legislature. Work is currently in progress for a mass transit system on Oahu, and geothermal development proceeds.
Renewed Commitment to Community Services
For more than 40 years the national AFL-CIO has enjoyed a working relationship with United Way of America to promote community service work among its members. The cooperative venture evolved out of a commitment to voluntarism in a democratic society.
A basic principle of the AFL-CIO Community Services Program is that the union member is first and foremost, a citizen of the community who cooperates with other citizens in making the community a good place in which to live, to work, to raise children, and to retire. The union member is concerned about the availability of adequate health, welfare, and human services for the entire community.
From its inception, the Hawaii State Federation in 1966 has had a labor liaison to help coordinate health and human services programs with the various United way agencies in the state. Since 1985, however, Labor's participation in all aspects of community services has expanded substantially, and the role of the State AFL-CIO became more clearly defined.
Affiliated locals of the State AFL-CIO were kept abreast of community service programs and concerns through the monthly Hawaii AFL-CIO Nupepa. In March 1987 the first statewide community service conference geared primarily to union business agents and stewards was convened. Among the highlights of the conference was the topic of drug abusive and treatment. Participants learned of the vast array of health and human services provided by the many agencies funded by the Aloha United Way. It is estimated that one out of every two beneficiaries of the services provided are union members.
In 1990 the State AFL-CIO amended its by-laws and constitution to formalize its relationship with the Aloha United Way and the United Way programs on each of the islands. Through a community services committee the State AFL-CIO coordinates Hawaii's labor involvement in state and county programs. Clyde Hayashi, Boilermaker Local 204 President and former President of the Federal Metal Trades Council, has continued as the labor liaison (since 1987) with the Aloha United Way. Another labor liaison for the island of Maui was recently added.
AFL-CIO officials currently serve on nine of the allocation panels which help determine which agencies should be funded annually.
The AFL-CIO has 12 members on the 75 member board of directors of the Aloha United Way and 5 members on the 20 member executive committee.
In 1990 Aloha United Way exceeded all previous records when it raised $14 million. The State AFL-CIO is clearly a significant participant in the fund raising drives. Among the recipients of outstanding volunteer awards have been Joanne Kealoha of the ILWU in 1989, Gary Rodrigues of the UPW in 1990, and Norman Ahakuelo of the IBEW in 1991.
COPE Success in Elections
Hoping to avoid the fallout from the Burns-Gill split of 1970, the State AFL-CIO adopted a constitutional change in 1985 which prohibits AFL-CIO members to work for groups or organizations which are inimical to the policies of the State AFL-CIO. The provision bars one from holding AFL-CIO office in the event of a breach of discipline from AFL-CIO endorsements. This provision continues to be applied with a recognition that the House of Labor represents a diverse community of interests which may not see eye to eye on all political matters.
COPE endorsements over the years continue to help workers determine who will best represent their interests at all levels of government.
In 1986 eighty-eight percent of AFL-CIO endorsed candidates were elected to office. In 1988 eighty percent of candidates receiving endorsements won. In 1990 over 92% of COPE endorsed candidates emerged victorious. The election results in the Senatorial race between Daniel Akaka and Patricia Saiki was especially noteworthy.
In 1991 President Gary Rodrigues was one of nine members of the Reapportionment Commission which redistricted all state legislative and congressional districts. The review process occurs once every ten years.
EPILOGUE: Pa'a Hui Unions-
The history of Hawaii's labor movement is rich and colorful. As in no other state in the country, Hawaii's labor unions have developed with an independence and style profoundly influenced by the islands' social history. For more than 100 years between 1840 and 1955, Hawaii was virtually the private preserve of a handful of corporate families. The five greatest companies, Castle and Cooke, C. Brewer, Hackfeld, Alexander & Baldwin, and Theo. Davies, commonly called the "Big 5," came to own or control nearly every business or financial interest in the islands.
American, white and Republican, this oligarchy held absolute power politically as well as economically and made Hawaii one of the last places in which labor was able to establish any kind of significant power of its own.
Race discrimination was the single greatest stumbling block to the rise of Hawaii's labor unions. Not only were the native Hawaiian workers kept out of positions of authority, but the haole business leaders of the islands, through careful immigration policies, imported successive waves of Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, and Filipino laborers who were each, in their turn, made to occupy a racially stratified wage scale.
Before labor could combine effectively to take on the Big 5, workers first had to overcome their mutual distrust and jealousies. The early history of Hawaiian plantation labor unions was plagued by racial unionism. First a string of Japanese, then Filipino, strikes were ruthlessly crushed. Not until the longshore workers in Hilo and Kauai were able to organize truly interracial unions in the 1930s were Hawaii's workers at last able to unite meaningfully and mount a serious challenge to Hawaii's business oligarchy.
As the foregoing chapters reveal, the history of the AFL-CIO unions in Hawaii is the story of continuous growth, change and adaptation. The very early attempts to organize AFL unions in Hawaii were likewise impeded by racism. Honolulu's exclusive white mechanics' association organized at the turn of the century to oppose Chinese immigration was, fortunately, an anomaly that did not prevent the real organization in the late '20s and early '30s of craft workers that began to include, first, Hawaiian and Portuguese, then part-Hawaiian and Chinese, followed by Japanese skilled trades unionists. Their numbers may have been small, but Hawaii's trade unions led the way in racial integration, in some instances, against the direct orders of their internationals.
A distinguishing characteristic of Hawaii's AFL-CIO locals has always been their independence. Two thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean, even today, is a long way away from all the international headquarters. Hawaii's labor leadership has never been afraid to make its own rules in view of that distance which has always been a gulf even more significant culturally than geographically.
Despite the unrelenting media focus on inter-union rivalry and the rise and fall of political factions within the movement, as the membership chart on page 42 illustrates, the past 25 years of confederation have witnessed prolonged and steady growth. Hawaii's labor movement in 1966 was very different in character from what it has become today. In the late '60s and early '70s there were many more labor union members out of the AFL-CIO than within. Five of Hawaii's largest unions, the ILWU, the Teamsters, the United Public Workers, the HGEA and the Hawaii State Teachers Association were all independents. In 1991, all but the teachers' union are in the AFL-CIO, and all but the teachers' and the Teamsters are in the State AFL-CIO.
In 1966 there were just under 20,000 AFL-CIO union members represented by 55 affiliates paying per capita dues to the State Federation, but in 1991 there are more than 74,000 AFL-CIO union members being represented by just 43 affiliated locals (councils not included). This trend to larger membership in fewer unions is partially the result of a national union trend toward union mergers. But the membership decline experienced by most mainland unions through the 1980s has not generally been experienced in Hawaii.
For one reason, Hawaii's economy was not as dependent on industrial production as many of the other highly unionized states. Hawaii's unions have, on the other hand, tended to be highly adaptive to changes in the island economy.
In the '50s and early '60s agriculture was the leading industry and base of the islands' economy. With the arrival of the first jumbo jets, the economy began changing and tourism and tourist-related development began to overtake traditional sugar and pineapple production as the key industries. Instead of resisting or trying to ignore these inevitable changes, Hawaii's unions immediately began organizing the growth sectors.
As a result, the proportion of the Hawaiian workforce organized into labor unions, now estimated at 28 percent, far exceeds the national norm which has crept down to nearly 15 percent.
In spite of their differences and occasional rivalries, Hawaii's labor unions continue to join together in mutual support, particularly in crises that transcend politics and cut straight to the heart of the most enduring union principles.
*The term Pa 'a Hui Unions is one first heard from a Hawaiian unionist in Hilo and veteran of the early days of the labor movement there. He used the term to describe the solidarity among the Hilo unions back in the late 1930s. The Hawaiian word Pa 'a means solid or tight-knit and the word Hui refers to an association, group or union.
[chart of Hawaii State AFL-CIO membership]
[photo of CLC building, Hawaii State Fed. of Labor and Hawaii State AFL-CIO office in 1991]
Hawaii's new State Federation initially moved into the former offices of the Central Labor Council at 333 North King St. President Carl Guntert's first job was to organize the executive board and appoint the federation's first secretary.
The second biennial convention of the federation was held in 1967 on Sept. 22-24, 1967 at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel. Some 150 delegates representing 47 local unions attended.