Sandra Ebesu:
“There needs to be a lot of support
given to workers.”

Ebesu, 45, spent six years as an employee of the Hawaii Government Employees Association. Most recently, she has been the labor advocate on the three-member Hawaii Labor Relations Board.

Ebesu said she was chastised by HGEA chiefs during the 1994 government employee strike because they believed more positions should have been declared nonessential, and ineligible for the picket lines. "I felt my role was very clear ... that I was there to protect the health and safety of the public during that strike," she said. "My job was to take a look at all the positions they were declaring nonessential to see whether or not they affected the public's health, so I didn't feel that I was going to roll over for labor."

Ebesu began her HGEA career in 1978 when she was asked to monitor the Constitutional Convention for the union. Later, she became a division chief managing the public relations and communications staffs.

She first got involved with the union because of a close relationship between the former HGEA union chief, David Trask, and her late father, Tom, an active Democrat and executive director for the state's public health fund.

State labor negotiator Manabu Kimura said he has found Ebesu to be fair in their limited dealings and that he would have no qualms sitting next to her with the unions across the bargaining table.

Her past association with HGEA "may work to her benefit," Kimura said.

"She will come in with a very good understanding of labor views, and that can be very valuable. In terms of her loyalties, I'm sure she'll be extremely supportive of Mayor (Jeremy) Harris."

HGEA Deputy Director Keith Ahue said he met Ebesu when she worked with the union and has also worked with her in her role on the Labor Board.

On the Labor Board, "we found her to be a fair and good representative for labor," Ahue said. "At the same time, I think she's been fair and objective and tried to look at both sides of the issue as much as possible."

The HGEA did not promote Ebesu's nomination but supports it, Ahue said.

United Public Workers chief Gary Rodrigues said Ebesu's job on the Labor Board is an asset.

"When you get there, you get to see everybody," he said.

"You see the merits of both sides and so forth."

Ahue also believes Ebesu's background will serve her well.

Besides working with HGEA, Ebesu was corporate public relations director for the Amfac Corp. and its successor, JMB of Chicago. Her duties included handling personnel matters, she said.

She also owned a Kapahulu flower shop for two years "because I wanted to see what being a small-business owner was like."

Ebesu said a priority for her will be to bolster worker morale. "There needs to be a lot of support given to workers."

Despite a shrinking city budget, training programs need continued funding, she said.

Ebesu, if her nomination is confirmed, will take over from Cynthia Bond, who has held the job since the end of the Fasi administration.

Bond stays on as deputy, and she and Ebesu promise to work together.