Union fires isle bank
over non-union work

Central Pacific says
it had no choice but to accept
the developer's contractor

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

After a 35-year relationship with Central Pacific Bank, the Carpenters Union Local 745 is closing its account because of a bank being built in Kona by a non-union contractor.

"I cannot allow my members in Kona to get their paychecks from Central Pacific Bank when they look down the street and see a building being put up by the bank with non-union labor," said Walter Kupau, union financial secretary.

The union plans to pull out about $1.8 million and put it in Bank of Hawaii by May 1, he said yesterday.

But the bank said it had no choice.

"The Maryl Group was already developing the project," said Neal Kanda, executive vice president of Central Pacific Bank. "It was out of our hands."

The project, a bank branch office, is in the pre-designed Crossroads commercial area owned by the Maryl Group. Tenants in the area include Wal-Mart and Safeway.

Maryl Construction, a non-union holding of Maryl Group, is doing groundwork and providing "shells" to be finished by tenants or purchasers.

Edward Rapoza, vice president of Maryl Group, yesterday said he was surprised to hear of the union's plans.

"They didn't have a choice," he said of Central Pacific Bank, noting the property was sold under a lease option with a pre-designed "shell" already under construction. "The landlord always provides the shell and the tenant comes in and does the improvements."

Rapoza noted that bids for the bank's interior haven't gone out and will likely include at least three union contractors.

In addition to the union's cash, Kupau said several business loans also will be transferred to Bank of Hawaii.

In looking for an alternative bank, Kupau noted that American Savings Bank was ruled out because it is a holding of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. HEI angered the union several years ago when it ended homeowners insurance on Kauai after Hurricane Iniki.

The Carpenters Union last year pulled almost $30 million from First Hawaiian Bank, in part because it employed former City Council Chairman Arnold Morgado during his bid for mayor. The union, which considered Morgado "anti-construction," supported his opponent, Mayor Jeremy Harris, in the race.

Kupau yesterday noted "I'm running out of banks in Hawaii." If that happens, he said, the union has its eye on the First Union Bank of Boston, which is union-run.