490 more
Hawaii jobs lost
DFS Hawaii: 300 people lose jobs
with the duty-free retail operator
By Russ Lynch
Star-BulletinHard hit by a slowdown in Japanese tourism in Hawaii and a fall-off in leisure travel throughout Asia that hurt its parent company, DFS Hawaii is laying off 300 employees.
The duty-free retailer, which has 1,660 employees in Hawaii, said it will begin the layoffs with the closing of its 47-worker Ja Ja Fashions store in Ward Center.
The rest of the layoffs will take place between now and October, said Ed Brennan, head of the Hawaii operation, who now has the title of president of the DFS U.S. region.
The company's eight tax-free shops at Honolulu Airport, which sell foreign merchandise such as liquor and perfumes to overseas travelers without incurring U.S. import duties, will be the least affected, Brennan said during a telephone news conference yesterday.
Brennan said most of the layoffs will be in "back of the house" positions such as accounting and other office work, plus some management jobs.
DFS is a major retailer in addition to the duty-free business, with gift shops at Honolulu and Keahole airports and sundries shops at Honolulu and Kahului airports.
Under the contract that gives it exclusive duty-free rights at Hawaii's airports, DFS is supposed to pay the state minimum rent of around $100 million a year.
When a $25.5 million payment came due March 1, DFS paid only $3 million and is negotiating for a deferred payment plan to let it pay the rest over time.
"We are in negotiations to defer a portion of the concession payment," Brennan said. "The state does not view us in default," he said. DFS successfully negotiated a much bigger time-payment plan, for more than $100 million, when its business faded in 1991 because of the Persian Gulf war.
The entire DFS Group Ltd., a subsidiary of Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, has asked its 5,000 vendors worldwide to give it more time to pay for goods and services, 90 days rather than the current 30 days.
Brennan's news was not all negative. He said Hawaii has gained in importance by becoming the headquarters for all DFS operations in the United States.
That includes airport operations at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Portland and San Jose and off-airport, duty-free stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
That will bring the total run from Hawaii to more than 40 stores. The shift will mean the addition of a few management jobs here, he said.
DFS recently completed two new specialty stores at Honolulu Airport and will open four more there in the next six weeks, Brennan said.
He said staffing changes are not unusual for DFS, which adjusts up and down depending on current market conditions, but he acknowledged that the layoffs are significant because they come "during a very difficult economic time for Hawaii."
Queen’s Medical Center:
Will cut 190 positionsBut most will be made
through attrition
By Mary Adamski
Star-BulletinQueen's Medical Center will cut about 190 positions from its 2,900-member work force by June in an effort to cut $18 million from its annual operating budget.
The downsizing may mean about 30 people will lose their jobs, but it will be accomplished mostly by not filling positions when they become vacant and by offering early retirement enhancements, said Connie Wiletzky, vice president for patient care/organizational change.
The job cutback announced yesterday is the third phase of an assessment of operations that began in April 1996 in response to industrywide reductions in health care payments.
Queens, which operates the state's largest hospital, last month said that in the first two phases the company had eliminated 160 jobs, mostly through attrition and early retirement.
Wiletzky said the cutbacks are not tied to the negative trend in Hawaii's economy and employment, which has seen numerous recent announcements from companies and government agencies eliminating jobs.
"Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance providers all have made reductions over the last several years in response to business and public pressure to reduce the cost of medical care," she said. "Even in states where there is a booming economy and an increase in population, the health care industry in those locations is still having to make significant adjustments in the cost structure and expense reduction. It's a nationwide phenomenon."
Wiletzky said 130 positions are already vacant and 30 people have indicated they are interested in the early retirement offering. Employees are normally eligible to retire at 55.
Jobs are being cut throughout the medical center.
Nurses are covered by collective bargaining agreement with the Hawaii Nurses Association and support employees are represented by the Teamsters Union.
Wiletzky said, "We have committed to both unions that we will talk with them about changes that impact their members before we talk to individual employees."
In a news release, Teamster President Mel Kahele said, "The union's position is that all nonunion (call-in) workers doing Teamster bargaining unit work should be eliminated before any layoffs can take place. Queen's management have told me that they will attempt to comply with this policy."
At this point, the hospital has not notified the union of any specific layoffs, he said.
Wiletzky said there is a lot of turnover in direct-care provider positions, such as nurses.
Other ways to whittle down the $300 million annual budget have been approved by the Queen's board of trustees, including streamlining work processes and reducing supplies.
Queen's said the hospital will continue to analyze the changes to avoid any disruption to patient care.
